Boomer-speak in Historical Fiction

OK, this one's a bit of rant, a bit of humor, and a call for your own comments in the same vein.

I just read a book set in Ancient Ireland with the following line in it:

She worked with the Dagda to save her people from cultural annihilation.

"Cultural annihilation"???  Could the author not have used a simple lesss anaachronistic lline like:

She worked with the Dagda to save her people's very existence.

Or just leave off the "'s very existence."  Think of the ink it would have saved, along with the people.
So as soon as I told my husband about this one he piped up with something like, "I suppose you could put Earl Sagar (a rather dour fellow from my Anglo Saxon novel, An Involuntary King) standing in a sield wall wondering, 'Am I still relevant?  Or should I reinvent myself' and wondering which of the King's companions would be a good life coach for him."

I suppose it would not be beyond imagining that Sir Francis Walsingham might "take a meeting" and present h is "agenda"  though his attempts to reach consensus would be precluded not b language but by personality.

Did Mary Boleyn complain of sexual harrassment?  Well, maybe not complain...

It certainly would not be out of the question that Julius Caesar would worry about imperialism...

I knwo Robin Hood was definitely trying to live green.

As you see, I am a bit out of touch concerning Boomerspeak.. so I shall rely on you for deliverables like that.

Foxe Tail, by Haley Walsh, a Skyler Foxe Mystery

Foxe Tail

Haley Walsh

Yeah, I know, it's not historical... but I'm multidimensional, like most everyone else.  Well, three dimensional.. I like historical novels, end of the world novels, and M/M novels.  This fits one of those dimensions, OK?

Skyler Fox is a new English teacher at James Polk High in a small town way out off LA.  He went to that school too, so it means all the more to him to be part of the faculty.  He fears being outed as a gay man mainly because he wants to keep his job, and though legally they couldn't fire him for that, they certainly could lay him off.  So when a gorgeous new biology teacher starts at Polk, he has to struggle to hide his attraction.  Things heat up in other ways, however, and rather than proving to be a distraction, Skyler starts wondering if there are connections between the biology teacher and the dastardly goings-on.

The mystery starts with the murder of the principal's son behind a gay dance club.  Skyler and his police detective friend Sydney think the club must be mixed up somehow with the murder, so they pursue that angle of investigation.  Sydney is annoyed at Sky for getting too involved with the case, bur it seems boys will be boys and in spite of threats on his life, Sky persists.  He becomes invollved with helping a student get onto the football team, hoping it will help his behavior problems.  It is then that Skyler begins to suspect the football faculty of being up to no good and possibly even connected to the murder.

Skyler is quite likable, has the sort of bachelor life we most of us envy but know better than to think really exists, but sometimes you just want to slap him.  He can be obtuse about dangers at times, and makes some questionable judgment calls, like taking his former Latin lover with him to the princiipal's house.  Other characters fill out the cast, Skyler's detective and other friends, the other teachers, and a few peripheral characters, including a big handsome guy with piercings "down there" that Sky brings home for the books only actual sex scene.

The initial mystery  did not catch this reader's imagination, but when the jocks at Polk High bring in their own sinister subplot, I got really into it.  The book is what the author called "a story arc" so I was caught unawares when the initial mystery was solved but much was left dangling.  Interesting literary idea, but I tend to think it risks someone losing interest before the next part of the arc is published.  Fortunately for me it's coming out next month.

One aspect of this novel that struck me was how difficult it is for Skyler to have to listen to anti-gay comments from fellow teachers.  he wants to argue but he is too caught up in hiding his own lifestyle.  that is just one of the injustices someone like Skyler must cope with, having to accept behavior that hurts but nonetheless having his very fears proved by the behavior.  I know from experience if he does come out, with something sort of similar being a person with a disability, that the situation would shift from "we get to say who we hate" to "we have to walk on egg shells around him".  Walsh brings all this out clearly and sensitively.

Novels Set NOW Can Be Fun Too!

It's only $3.99 and worth a lot more just with what fun it is.  Laaksonen is a  natural, a clever and witty storyteller, great sex scenes, playful, characters you will fall in love with, and a dog who gets a second chance.  It's a quick read too.  No complaining you don't have time, OK?  And even if you are not into vampires, this is a book that will make you laugh.

Molly and the Vampire: A Sensible Woman Learns about Love, Lust and Things That Go Bump in the NightLinda Laaksonen
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/76717

It will be out in print.. but why wait?

Keeping Tabs On.. The Gambling lexicon

Planning a novvel that will feature a riverboat gambler from the mid 19th century, I started looking into what card games were commonly employed by gamblers.  One of the most popular was a game called faro.  In it players place bets on which of a full set of a particular suit of cards will be drawn from the card box or "faro bank".  Two cards are placed on either side of the bank, one called the banker's card and the other the player's card.  If a player matches the banker's card, he loses.  If he matches the player's card, he wins.

I still need to learn how to play this game, how one wins and how one cheats.  But one thing I learned from a video on YouTube about faro is that players would often keep track of what cards were played on small pieces of paper.  These pieces of paper were called "tabs"  As they were used to keep the banker honest, to "keep tabs on someone" came to mean keeping track of their actions or assertions.

Wanna play?

History of Riverboat Wagering

Enjoy this article, obviously creatively translated into English from some other language, extolling the history of gamblling on Mississippi riverboats.  I found this as part of the research for my next novel...

The US is very well known for having several worlds’ major and most sumptuous casinos. However, the US also differentiates its wagering presence from other realms in another way i.e. riverboat wagering. In fact, the US has a profound history of riverboat wagering that extents roughly two centuries! If you are a aficionado of gambling world, then you’ll certainly enjoy this look back on the past of riverboat wagering.

Mississippi River: an attraction for the Professional Gamblers
The most prehistoric days of the riverboat gaming date back to the early on in the 19th century when the Mississippi River was packed with dealers. Since water haulage was huge in the US deal scene during this era, many rich dealers pursue the map and down the Mississippi River. Moreover, considering as how it is an extensive journey from one end to the other, wagering became a trendy way to overtake the time.

It was not long before when the proficient gamblers found their mode to the riverboats at Mississippi. Soon the riverboat gaming was flourishing as the card games and the other games of likelihood were ordinary among the traders and the pro-gamblers.
However, many of the rich dealers began to grasp onto the card cheats, and it was not long before people in progress taking the matters into their own hands. In the year 1835, five gamblers were hanged for being deceitful in a card game; other experts observe this message and the riverboat wagering began fading down. Surely, there was still riverboat wagering, but not in the equal capability that it had been ever before.

In 1861, the Civil War bust out in America and the riverboats were not able to do much itinerant on the Mississippi River – or any other rivers for that stuff. In the outcome of the war, riverboat wagering pretty much vanished except for hardly any remote card games now and there.

The Birth of the Riverboat Casinos
The US is not a very open-minded country when it comes to the matter of wagering. Most of their land-based wagering is done in the Las Vegas, Atlantic City, a few top quality cities, and the Indian qualms. Therefore, when small state of Iowa was appearing for a way to proffer officially permitted wagering as a means of accumulating the tax revenue, the state of affairs looked bleak. That is pending they discovered riverboat gambling.

Iowa officials found that if their casinos were dwelling on the riverboats, they could lawfully function as long as the cruisers sailed out into the river so often. This dodge enabled Iowa to proffer the United States’ the first riverboat casino. It was not long before the supplementary states such as Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Mississippi and Michigan had riverboat casinos of their own.

Modern Day Riverboat Gambling
The commandments surrounding the riverboat wagering have loosened significantly over the last two decades. Now the riverboats do not even have to leave the wharf, and they can be kept on the stilts while keeping hold of the legality. The sloppy laws involving the riverboat wagering has given mount to lots of sail ships wagering too.

Today, many of the riverboats and the sail ships proffer full-service casinos along with the slots, blackjack, poker, roulette and the other games. Moreover, what is grand about the riverboat casinos is that they allow the gamblers from all the states to take pleasure in the nearby wagering; in the past, populace had to tour to the Las Vegas or Atlantic City just to wager.
Ofcourse, with the mount in the online casinos, citizens do not even have to depart from their dwelling to wager!

Stolen wholecloth from http://www.superonlinecasino.com/casino-articles/general/history-of-riverboat-wagering.

Expressions and Where They Really Came From: "Deadd Ringer"

Nope, not this.

The other day at a pizza restaurant our waiter, who said his name was "Awesome" and who kept feeding us trivia questions hit on a wrong answer I had heard before.  He told us the expression "dead ringer" came from a period when premature burials were creeping everyone out so they started putting bells on caskets.  I knew that could not be right if only because the expression "dead ringer" means a perfect imitation.  How would that follow from tinntinnabulating coffins?

It doesn't.  The actual origin of the term comes from another meaning of both "ringer" and "dead".

You will be familiar with the term "ringer" meaning someone who steps in to take another person's place, the implication always being that the replacement is a much better performer than the original.  Sometimes a ball team puts in a ringer to throw off the strategy and expectations of the opposite team.  This comes from horse racing originally.  A "ringer" was a horse that looked just like one with a poor record of performance and therefore higher odds against winning.  The "ringer" will be mistaken for the less able nag, so when it wins, being a better racer, the trickster will win big.

"Dead" also means more than just deceased.  It also means precise or exact.  Like "She hit it dead on."

So a "dead ringer" is someone or something that is absolutely identical to something else.  You say "The actor who played him was a dead ringer for Thomas Cranmer."

In general, if an expression's claimed origin does not reflect it's current meaning in some way, it's wrong.

Rory O'More - Rebel

Rory O'More

Rory O'More, also known as Rory Oge O'More (Irish: Ruairí Óg Ó Mórdha) (died 1578), was an Irish rebel.

Early life

He was the second son of Ruairí Ó Mórdha, captain of Leix, and Margaret, daughter of Thomas Butler, and granddaughter of Pierce or Piers Butler, eighth earl of Ormonde. Sir Henry Sidney once called him ‘an obscure and base varlet,’ but his family was one of the most important of the minor Irish septs, and also one of the most turbulent.

Family background

Ruairí Ó Mórdha (fl. 1554), the father, was the son of Connell Ó Mórdha (d. 1537), and early acquired the character of a violent and successful chieftain. On the death of Connell a fierce dispute broke out between the three sons — Lysaght, Kedagh, and Ruairí — and their uncle Peter the Tanist. Peter was for the time a friend of the Butlers. Consequently the deputy, Lord Leonard Grey, supported the sons; and, although Peter was acknowledged chief, Grey got hold of him by a ruse, and led him about in chains for some time, Kedagh then seems to have secured the chieftainship, Lysaght having been killed; but he died early in 1542, and Ruairí, the third brother, succeeded.

He, after a period of turmoil, agreed on 13 May 1542 to lead a quieter life, and made a general submission, being probably influenced by the fact that Kedagh had left a son of the same name, who long afterwards, in 1565, petitioned the privy council to be restored to his father's inheritance. Like other Irish chiefs of the time, Ó Mórdha was only a nominal friend to the English. In a grant afterwards made to his eldest son his services to King Edward VI are spoken of; but they must have been of doubtful value, as an order of 15 March 1550-1 forbade any of the name of Ó Mórdha to hold land in Leix.

At some uncertain time between 1550 and 1557 Ruairí Ó Mórdha was killed, and was succeeded by a certain Connell Ó Mórdha, who may be the Connell Oge O'More mentioned in 1556 in the settlement of Leix . He was put to death in 1557

In 1556 Queen Mary approved an Act "..whereby the King and Queen's Majesties, and the Heires and Successors of the Queen, be entituled to the Counties of Leix, Slewmarge, Irry, Glinmaliry, and Offaily, and for making the same Countries Shire Grounds."  This shired the new counties of Queen's County (now County Laois) and King's County (now County Offaly), thereby dispossessing the O'More clan and starting the Plantations of Ireland.

Ruairí Óge and Callagh

Rory left two sons, Callagh and Ruairí Óge. Callagh, who was brought up in England, was called by the English ‘The Calough,’ and, as he describes himself as of Gray's Inn in 1568, he may be assumed to be the John Callow who entered there in 1567 (Foster, Reg. of Gray's Inn, p. 39). In 1571 Ormonde petitioned for the Calough's return, and soon afterwards he came back to Ireland, where in 1582 he was thought a sufficiently strong adherent to the English to receive a grant of land in Leix.

A dangerous rebel

Ruairí Óge Ó Mórdha, the second son, was constantly engaged in rebellion. He received a pardon on 17 February 1565-6, but in 1571 he was noted as dangerous, and in 1572 he was fighting Ormonde and the queen at the same time, being favoured by the weakness of the forces at the command of Francis Cosby, the seneschal of Queen's County, and the temporary absence of Ormonde in England. In this little rebellion the Butlers and the Fitzgeralds were united against him; but when, in November 1572, Desmond escaped from Dublin, it was Ruairí Óge Ó Mórdha who escorted him through Kildare and protected him in Queen's County He was mixed up in Kildare's plots in 1574, and taken prisoner in November. But he was soon free, and Sidney, when on his tour in 1575, wrote of him: ‘Rory Oge O'More hath the possession and settling-place in the Queen's County, whether the tenants will or no, as he occupieth what he listeth and wasteth what he will.’

Submission and war

However, Ó Mórdha was afraid of the deputy, and when Sydney came into his territory, he went to meet him in the cathedral of Kilkenny (December 1575), and ‘submitted himself, repenting (as he said) his former faults, and promising hereafter to live in better sort (for worse than he hath been he cannot be).’ Hence we find a new pardon granted to him on 4 June 1576 (ib. p. 179).

But in the next year he hoped for help from Spain, and, pushed on by his freind, John Burke, he made a desperate attack on the Pale. He allied himself with some of the O'Connors, and gathered an army. On 18 March 1576-7 the seneschal of Queen's County was commanded to attack Ruairí Óge and the O'Connors with fire and sword. There was good reason for active hostilities, as on the 3rd the insurgents had burned Naas with every kind of horror. Sidney wrote to the council the same month: ‘Rory Oge O'More and Cormock M'Cormock O'Conor have burnt the Naas. They ranne thorough the towne lyke hagges and furies of hell, with flakes of fier fastned on poles ends’

Later in the year Ó Mórdha captured Harrington and Cosby. They were rescued by a ruse. Ó Mórdha's wife and all but Ó Mórdha himself and one of those who were with him were killed. Infuriated at being caught, Ó Mórdha fell upon Harrington, ‘hacked and hewed’ him so that Sidney saw his brains moving when his wounds were being dressed, then rushing through a soldier's legs, he escaped practically naked.

Death

He soon afterwards burned Carlow; but in an attempt to entrap Barnaby Fitzpatrick, baron of Upper Ossory, into his hands, he was killed by the Fitzpatricks in June 1578, and his head set up on Dublin Castle.

From Wikipedia.
Song: Rory O'More

Young Rory O'More courted Kathleen Bawn
He was bold as a hawk and she soft as the dawn
He wished in his heart pretty Kathleen to please
And he thought the best way to do that was to tease.

"Now Rory be easy," sweet Kathleen would cry
Reproof on her lip but a smile in her eye
"With your tricks I don't know in troth what I'm about
Faith you've teased till I've put on my cloak inside out.

"O jewel," says Rory, " that same is the way
You've thrated my heart for this many a day
And tis plaz'd that I am and why not to be sure
For tis all for good luck." says bold Rory O'More.

"Indeed then," says Kathleen," don't think of the like
For I half gave a promise to soothering Mike
The ground that I walk on he loves I'll be bound."
"Faith," says Rory," I'd rather love you than the ground."

"Now Rory I'II cry if you don't let me go
Sure I drcam every night that I'm hating you so"
"Oh," says Rory," that same I'm delighted to hear
For dhrames always go by contrairies my dear."

"O jewel keep dhraming that same till you die
And bright morning will give dirty night the black lie
And tis plaz'd that I am and why not to be sure
Since tis all for good luck," says bold Rory O'More.

"Arrah Kathleen my darling you've teased me enough
Sure I've thrashed for your sake Dinny Grimes and Jim Duff
And I've made myself drinking your health quite a baste
So I think after that I may talk to the priest."

Then Rory the rogue stole his arm round her neck
So soft and so white without freckle or speck
And he looked in her eyes that were beaming with light
And he kissed her sweet lips don't you think he was right.

"Now Rory leave off sir you'll hug me no more
That's eight times today and you've kissed me before"
"Then here goes another," says he, " to make sure
For there's luck in odd numbers." says Rory O'More.

From the Grieg-Duncan Folk Song Collection