Winning Words 1/9/13
“Everyone who has gumption knows what it is, and anyone who hasn’t can never know what it is, so there’s no need of defining it.”  (L.M. Montgomery)  Just for fun, use gumption in a conversation today and see what response you get.  And while you’re frittering away the time with tomfoolery, throw in the words, spiffy, scamp and bimbo.  Do you have the gumption to come up with some other words like these?    ;-)  Jack

 FROM WALMART REV:  Just- "Forrest Gump!"////FROM JACK:  My first smile of the day.  Thanks

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  That guy has come up with a great excuse for his inability to define a word that he thinks defines him.////FROM JACK:  I had the gumption to look up the author and found that the "guy" was Lucy Maud Montgomery, who wrote Anne of Green Gables and many other books and stories.  Her mother died when she was 21 months old, and she led a lonely childhood, being raised by very strict grandparents.  As a child, her only friends were imaginary ones.  When she died, a note found at her bedside which read, in part: "I tried to do my best."  Maud, herself, was the definition of gumption.  Thanks for getting me to discover the rest of the story.////HJ:  Glad to help out.  Still think "gumption"is like "common sense". Nice to claim about one's self and a handy way to put others down.////J:  Just as time removes some good people, so, it also removes some good words.

 FROM CWR IN B'MORE:   ....not a 'word' but a phrase...The title for the Prayer Book I'm writing  "Lettuce Spray"..////FROM JACK:  I'll have to be sure and use a mask when I read it.

 FROM MEDD-O-LANE:  Yep I have gumption but I forgot where I put it!////FROM JACK:  Dagnabbit!

 FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS:  Hooch!////FROM JACK:  A perfect word from the days of Al Capone.  I suppose you know that the WCT got its start in Evanston with their fight against the evils of John Barleycorn. ////BBC:  ////BBC:  Yes, believe Evanston was still dry when Angelique was born.  Most of the restaurants were BYO, even the nice ones, which keeps the tab down.////J:  Evanston is also famous for passing a law  banning the sale of ice cream "Sundays" on Sunday.  The soda fountains got around the law by calling them "ice cream sundaes."

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  I disagree with the part that some people can never know what gumption is. Personally, I know a lot of people, including knowing how I've developed gumption sometimes when needed, amazing miracles when people have gotten strong and even stronger than they ever imagined they could be, and it seems to come from faith that God gives in emergencies. If life is going along smoothly and things are really easy, does a person need to do any gumption things? Do people who have easy lives have any chance to have gumption or does everyone's life carry need for gumption?  Pondering at the computer here.////FROM JACK:  Re-read the quote, and try not to take it literally.  There's meaning behind the words...as with many conversations (or e-mails) that we share.  BTW, What's your definition of gumption? ////SS:  My definition of gumption is either hutzpah or grits or maybe even sassy. You're pretty sassy, Pastor. ////J:  That takes gumption...to call a pastor, sassy.  I'll bet you've never done it, face to face.

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  What about hutspa, or however you spell it?  Everyone has had to have a lot of gumption to have lived such a long life.  My children and grandchildren have a lot, but I have slowed down a bit.  How about you?////FROM JACK:  Here in our Jewish community we know it as, chutzpah, a Yiddish word, which means, unmitigated gall.  Here's an example:  A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each.  Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time, and as he passed the pretzel stand, he would leave her a quarter, but never take a  pretzel.  This went on for more than 3 years. The two of them never spoke. One day, as the young man passed the old lady's stand and left his quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him.  Without blinking an eye she said:  A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each.  Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time, and as he passed the pretzel stand, he would leave her a quarter, but never take a  pretzel.  This went on for more than 3 years. The two of them never spoke. One day, as the young man passed the old lady's stand and left his quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him.  Without blinking an eye she said:    "They're 35 cents now."  (That's chutzpah!)

 FROM ILLINOIS LIZ:  Like.////FROM JACK:  An old expression for "like" is..."The cat's meow."  Have you ever heard that before?////LIZ:  that would be more than "like."////J:  Okey dokey!

 FROM FM IN WISCONSIN:  Dutch treat . . . for one.////FROM JACK:  I haven't heard that one in a long time.  Yesterday I had a lunch meeting, and we split the check.  This morning, at a breakfast meeting, one of us will pay...with no argument.  The other will say, "I'll leave the tip."////FM:  In my world, “dutch treat” was an agreement between two teens, dating on a regular basis . . . and their agreement that each would pay for their own movie ticket, or the check for the ice cream or coke after the show.   I don’t know if it applied to two old ‘codgers’ who were eating together and ‘splitting the check’.    And what about the word ‘codgers’.////J:  One synonym is "fruitcake," and another is "weirdo." 

 FROM JFMK IN CALIFORNIA:  Joe Btsglk?////FROM JACK:  The correct spelling is Joe Btfsplk. He was a cartoon character who walked around with a dark rain cloud over him, symbolizing his bad luck

 FROM SS IN MICHIGAN:  "swell" comes to mind!////FROM JACK:  Neat-o.