Rotareminder 3/25/25

Submitted by: Jennifer Lennox

Called to order by Rachel Kerns, who led us in singing America the Beautiful. We recited the Pledge of Allegiance and Paul Organ led the invocation. The fun song was led by Adam Alderson and it was “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” There were no visiting Rotarians, but Jeff Forstner was a guest of Dennis Campbell.

Announcements: Jen Lennox announced Sporcle trivia on April 3^rd at North Water Brewing at 7 p.m. Nancy Whitehead pointed to an opportunity to meet candidates running for office at a Face2Face being led by the League of Women Voters on April 5 from 9-1130 at the Methodist Church in Kent. She also pointed that our own Ben Tipton is running for office. Nelson Burns announced that Bill Reeves had passed away and that he didn’t have information on services, but would share them when we have them. Larry Lohman said the district conference is coming up, and it would include honoring 50-year Rotarians (and Rachel nudged him to announce that Larry’s dad would be one of the honorees!). Also, Larry said there’d be an informational meeting about the CoCoDa water project on Wednesday, 3/26, and to reach out to him if you want more information on traveling to El Salvador to learn more about the project. John Flynn told a funny story about running into Saundra Kennedy while she was mowing her lawn. Dennis Campbell announced that the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce was holding a Women to women luncheon on 4/3 at North Water Brewing. Todd Kamenash announced the leaderboard for the March Madness Brackets: Roberta O’Keefe is winning the men’s tournament, with Nelson Burns and Doug Fuller in second place. Randy Smith is winning the women’s bracket, with a number of people in second place. He also pointed out that Paul Organ has the honor of being dead last in both brackets. (More on that later.)

Happy Bucks: Todd Kamenash was happy that his daughter hit a home run. Larry Lohman is glad that his daughter survived wisdom tooth surgery, and he was happy about the CoCoDa project. Paul Organ was PROUD that he chose his alma mater (Vanderbilt) even if they didn’t win. Chas Madonio was happy for the Kent State Flashes big win. Lee Higgins was happy that his grandson Julien’s soccer team won the Columbus city championship and that meant they got to attend opening day with the Columbus Crew. Laing Kennedy was also happy that KSU was playing basketball in March.

Birthdays

Todd Kamenash helped with birthdays because Jeff Roeger was in surgery, and Todd suggested we all think happy thoughts and send them Jeff’s way.

David Myers: He forgot to set the parking brake of his tractor, and it ripped a hole in the barn door.

Rachel Kerns: She hid a friend who had run away from home for two days in her garage.

Randy Smith: He drove with his friends to Niagara Falls and made it home before sunrise.

Speaker: Dave Myers introduced the speaker, Todd Kamenash, who led the tables through an interactive exercise where they proposed the origins of certain common phrases. Todd then invited each table to share their proposed origins and then gave the real stories (listed below).

Origin Story: American haberdashery / cabinet makers (c. 1863)

Brass tacks were used to make furniture. When reupholstering them meant tearing all the fabric off leaving only the brass tacks which could remain and be used to attach the new fabric to. Brass tacks were also often used in general stores that sold fabric. The brass tacks were set exactly one yard apart to be more consistent than measuring a person’s armlength.

Origin Story: British, 1801

British Naval captain Horatio Nelson had only one eye. During the Battle of Copenhagen, a superior officer flagged Nelson to withdraw. Nelson put a telescope to his missing eye, telling his ship to continue fighting, and they eventually won the battle.

Origin Story: American Civil War times (c. 1865)

The whole kit and boodle. Kit – a set of soldier’s necessities, usually in a knapsack (1785). Caboodle – boodle – a bunch or bundle, or bottle, of straw. Similar to a pile of something.

Origin Story: Ancient Greece (300 B.C.E)

Laurels are leaves linked to Apollo, the god of music, prophecy, and poetry. Apollo was often depicted as wearing a wreath of laurel leaves and branches. Greek athletes were presented wreaths of laurels when victorious. The Romans later presented these to generals who won battles. The laurel leaves became a sign of status and glory for past achievements. After the decline of the Greek and Roman empires, and into the 1800’s the phrase changed into the negative meaning we consider it today. Laurel is an origin for laureate, as in Nobel Laureate.

Origin Story: Brittain, 1837

Henry de la Poer Beresford was the 3^rd Marquess of Waterford. He was known to be a lush and a get into mischief. One night he led a group of friends on a drunken escapade that included knocking over flowerpots, yanking door-knockers off their doors, breaking windows, and yes, painting a toll gate, several homes, and a swan statue red.

Origin Story: America, 1770’s

The highest level of freemasonry at the time was the third, or highest degree, or being a master mason. Becoming a master mason meant passing an intensive test. In the early 1800’s, the phrase evolved into meaning getting interrogated.

Origin Story: India, 18^th century

To ask gods for favors, Hindu tradition had people throw balls of butter at their statues. The butter was cleansed or what we now call clarified – it was melted and strained to remove solids and water from it.

Origin Story: Britain, 1594

Shakespeare used the phrase in The Taming of the Shrew in 1594. It may have been referenced from 1579 when Sir Thomas North translated a work of biographies (including Greek Plutarch’s Parallel Lives from the 1^st century) talking about pioneering efforts, starting voyages, and building an empire showing how to create a path for others to follow. In the 1678 poem Hudibras by Samuel Butler, he uses the phrase to describe easing into a conversation. Others have used to describe ships that would get stuck during the winter because of ice formation. The receiving country would send small ships to “break the ice” to clear a way for the trade ships. This gesture showed affiliation and understanding between two territories.

Origin Story: American, 1800’s

When having guests over, the host would serve those they welcomed with warm tender meats. Unwelcomed guests would be served tough pieces of meat, like the shoulder, that had been sitting out much longer and were thus cold.

Origin Story: American, late 1800’s

In the 1890’s, there were water carts drawn by horses to wet the dusty roads in summertime. This was during a crusade for prohibition. People would climb onto the water carts rather than break their pledge to not consume alcohol. The original phrase was “On the Water Cart”. It changed to “On the Water Wagon,” so a person who couldn’t keep their pledge was said to have fallen off the water wagon. It was then shortened to Off the Wagon.

Nancy Whitehead gave the response, where she thanked Todd and pointed out that some of the tables were “barking up the wrong tree” and that others had to “bite the bullet” to come up with answers. 😊