Warning: Some Violence and Much Strong Language.HE WROTE: Time & Tide
I was trying to find out where the saying "Time & Tide wait for no man" came from and discovered no one really knows. It's very old.
Oh well. I have no clue why I was trying to find where the saying came from by the way. My brain is going all over the place.
The quickest way for me to tell the tide is to look out my office window and check the angles of the metal walkways down to the floating docks. I can also check my widget on my dashboard on my Mac. The dashboard is a pretty neat feature the latest operating system- Tiger-- that Macs have. You hit a button and these various 'widgets' come up on your screen covering whatever you have up. There are hundreds, if not thousands of widgets you can choose from. I have weather forecast, two post-its with what I need to do, tide for my location, stocks, i-tunes, Wikipedia, and address book.
We received an update on the book tour last night from our publicist at SMP. Nothing really new except a couple of media things. We have another phone interview Monday morning. I also have an interview with Skirt magazine which is out of Savannah sometime next week. And they want to do a photo shoot. And they want me to wear, well, a skirt. This is a conundrum. Jennifer has sent me three different web sites that sell camouflage skirts. I have an alternative plan as the definition of skirt is a broad one. I own a kayak and a kayak skirt is one that keeps water out of the kayak when you sit in it. So. Psshhwww.
Today seems not just the calm before the storm, but the depressive calm before the storm. I have a copy of DLD on my desk and plan on reading it on the flight to New York as I head there for the book tour on 3 April. I started over on Agnes yesterday and I really like it. I hope I feel the same about DLD.
Throughout my 16 years making a living as a writer I have found that almost every other day my own writing appears to either very good or very bad to me. I'm either very happy with it or very depressed with it. Today is very depressed.
I'm going to lie down and contemplate the inside of my eyelids.
34 Comments:
We are always our own worse critics. That's why we have friends and editors. I would personally never write another word if I listened to myself all the time. Writing is a very personal thing. These stories we create come from somewhere deep within and it's scary to put them out there for everyone to see. Just like children, we want them to be perfect and polished and to never embarass us. Since that is seldom possible, we send them out into the world with a little prayer and we hope that the world treats them kindly and loves them as much as we do. In your case, the world has been VERY kind, so relax. It'll all be ok--and if not, you can always blame Jenny! *grin*
Oh! Bob! http://utilikilts.com/. It's the latest thing in hip urban guy-wear. (Seriously.)
Pop on an olive twill utilikilt with a pair of mean stomper biker-boots and a leather jacket and you'll be all set.
Or perhaps the Survival Utilikilt is more your speed: https://secure.utilikilts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=39 - I believe you can pull that off with a pair of brown leather work boots and a t-shirt.
They also come in summerweight fabrics.
I am going to second the kilt...HOT!
If it still matters, here are some possibilities:
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Time.
Time and tide wait for no man. 1
“For the next inn he spurs a main.
In haste alights, and scuds away—
But time and tide for no man stay.”
Somerville: The Sweet-scented Miser.
or then there's:
John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
NUMBER: 4782
AUTHOR: Robert Burns (1759–1796)
QUOTATION: Nae man can tether time or tide. 1
ATTRIBUTION: Tam o’ Shanter.
BIOGRAPHY: Columbia Encyclopedia.
They were probably both leaf-blowing at the time/tide this thought came to them...and at least one of them was probably wearing a kilt.
I don't think I've ever seen a picture of Robbie Burns in a kilt :/
If you don't want to wear a skirt DONT!!! So there.
Ooooh. Bob in a kilt ... and when does this issue come out? I don't know why you're being so shy. Aren't you the same guy who got all those women to sign your leg? Or are you just going to 'skirt' the issue entirely?
Bob,
Here's what Phrase Finder says about the proverb:
Time and tide wait for no man
Meaning
No one is so powerful that they can stop the march of time.
Origin
The origin is uncertain, although it's clear that the phrase is ancient and that it predates modern English. The earliest known record is from St. Marher, 1225 - "And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet."
A version in modern English - "the tide abides for, tarrieth for no man, stays no man, tide nor time tarrieth no man" evolved into the present day version.
Here tide doesn't refer to the contemporary meaning of the word, i.e. the rising and falling of the sea, but to a period of time. When this phrase was coined tide meant a season, or a time, or a while. The word is still with us in that sense in 'good tidings', which refers to a good event or occasion and whitsuntide, noontide etc.
About that skirt -- It will make it easier for people to sign your thigh.
How about a camo kilt, Doherty??? Yes, on the thigh signing convenience.
I believe I would like to see Bob costumed as a Greek evzone: http://www.cable-infinity.gr/telpeh/en/evzone.htm
Incidentally, after the Jacobite rising of 1745, the wearing of the kilt was banned in Scotland; the ban was still in force during Burns's (fairly short) lifetime. The use of certain Highland clan names was also forbidden (remember Alan Breck Stewart in KIDNAPPED?); but the worst retaliation was the widespread slaughter of Highland men, women, and children by the forces commanded by "Butcher" Cumberland--which is why the flower named for him, known as "Sweet William" in England, is known as "Stinking Billy" in Scotland.
As for this thigh-signing business--do you think that I can convince Bob that I am the author of THE ELIZABETHAN WORLD PICTURE, and that my real name is Eustace Mandeville Wetenhall Tillyard?
The first full-body autograph!
It's not just the skirt, man, it's the matching shoes and bag! You're ex-military, you know the drill. Every uniform has it's standards.
As to the writing: we have a rhythm as writers, and it moves like a tide. The trick is to let the tide work for you, and avoid getting sucked down by the undertow. When you draw back, it's to rally forces, or to reconsider, or to refresh. Just remember: the battle looks very different to the front line soldier ass in the grass, then it does to the impartial CIA observer in the loud Hawaian shirt back at the TOC. As a writer, you play both parts, and to keep fresh, and on your game, you need to move through both points of view. On the depressed days, the tide is out, the front line grunt is weary: switch back to the inner eyelid contemplation of the neutral observer, the TOC of the unconcious, where all really outrageous ideas, solutions, and creative problem solving occurs, and roll with that for a while. What you take back may start a storm, wash out the beach, be the catalyst for reaching the energy level required to hop back into the charge and take the next hill. In other words, you're awesome, very talented, but human too. Cut yourself some slack, take R&R, and come back with fresh perspective.
Christine really said it all. Except I third the camo kilt option - my sensei has one and they are mega-hottt.
I think that Brooke's bang on the money. Definitely go with the kilt option.
The thing to remember with skirts is that really you need the legs for it if you're going to pull it off (as it were). Now, what with all that outdoorsy kayaking and running that you do, yours must be (a) tanned and (b) fairly muscular so, all in all, in decent nick. So pick out a kilt and then do as Brooke says and team it with some workwear boots and you'll look great.
One thing, though - choose your underwear carefully and watch out what happens when you sit down. Remember, movement draws fire, and you don't want a Basic Instinct moment in this picture. There's a reason why women sit in a certain way when they're wearing skirts.
Oh yeah, finally, may I make a plea that you post the picture? It'll make my day.
Ha ha! A skirt! Sheesh. Okay well, I suppose if Ashton Kutcher is game enough to wear them and he can get Demi's heart racing, you should go for it. What have you got to lose? Just pray it isn't a windy day.
Brainy Quotes gives credit to Geoffrey Chaucer for the time and tide quote but Wisdom quotes has an updated version credited to Mark Twain:
Time and tide wait for no man. A pompous and self-satisfied proverb, and was true for a billion years; but in our day of electric wires and water-ballast we turn it around: Man waits not for time nor tide.
and Working Humor / time quotes has this version:
Time and tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of 30. ~ Robert Frost
I just started using my widgets today. I really like the translator one. I'm going to have to find that tide one, because I like to know when low tide is so that I can go to the beach and look for sea shells. Thanks for the dashboard info! I always like learning new things about my Mac.
The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; -on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Thank you, Matthew Arnold, for one of the great read-aloud poems of the English Language.
BTW--just to add, my DH has a kilt and looks great in it. Bob has the right sort of build, but if he doesn't want to wear it no crazy person should make him.
And Talpianna--I'm sure you'll know, when was the modern kilt invented? It was after the '45 uprising wasn't it? I forget this stuff--I'm English LOL.
PS, What if it is a tutu?
MQ! You're killing me with Bob's "movement draws fire" line. That gets me every time. I have a whole new understanding of men now.
It's interesting that you still have those every-other-day ups and downs when it comes to your writing. I was hoping that went away with time. I have that constantly.
Just finished watching Capote. Talk about having writing ups and downs. A friend came by and we traded, My Walk The Line, for his Capote. I'm glad I was alone, 'cause I cried. (Still sniffling.)
The movie raised so many questions about the human condition. I loved the line where he compared himself to Perry, by saying they could have been raised in the same house and one day one walked out the front door and the other out the back door. Capote and Perry had similar upbringings but one went on to a life of fame the other to committing murder. It was like Capote was writing about his own dark side. Eerie stuff. They almost fused into one by the end, it's no wonder he never published another book.
Toni, short answer:
The first instance we have of the pleats being sewn in to the phillabeg, creating a true tailored kilt, comes in 1792. This kilt is in possession of the Scottish Tartans Society and is currently on display at the Scottish Tartans Museum of Franklin, NC. It contains 4 yards of tartan, and has wide box pleats that are each sewn in. This is the first garment that can truly be called a kilt in the form we know it today. The tailoring and style are different from a modern kilt, but it is a kilt nonetheless, with its origins in the belted plaid of the late 16th century.
Much more on the history of the kilt where I found this: http://albanach.org/kilt.html
Did you look at the picture of the evzone in my link above? His garment lookes very much like a tutu, but he's not the least bit effeminate-looking.
Ok, I can't resist. For your viewing pleasure, here is another kilt website:
http://pittsburghkilts.com/
Talipanna, thanks. That's what I thought.
The Greek traditional dress has always been interesting. The only Greek person I know is an orthodox priest who wears the black robes (bless him). I can't see Bob in either.
Don't think of it as just a skirt; think Mel Gibson (kilt) or Tom Selleck (probably wore a grass skirt over those fab shorts during Magnum PI) or maybe consider the movie and musical "South Pacific" and "there's nothing like a dame" (they wore more than skirts to belt out a tune) to make it more palatable for you.
Alternative to utilikilt:
http://www.macabiskirt.com/mens_home.php
braveheart/kiltmen is a website devoted to promoting the wearing of MUGs(Male unbifurcated garments) they even have a very nice list of sources.
http://www.kiltmen.com/suppliers.htm
Nikkie
Conscripted Cherry
And, combining kilt-blogging and thigh-signing blogging:
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/CourseCentral/365/li/material/notes/Chap2/kilt.jpg
I'll take the right cheek! Who wants to sign the left?
naughty, naughty, talpianna. (grin)
*evil mole grin*
I've always wondered where the saying "trip the light fantastic" came from. But I've been to lazy to actually do anything about my curiosity.
I have always been curious about why kilts and underwear are mutually exclusive? It seems to be a big taboo. I don't think I would ever be willing to don a kilt without wearingsomething under it.
It only took three clicks of the mouse to find "trip the light fantastic"--I knew I remembered it, but thought it was Shakespeare, not Milton.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tri1.htm
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