Does anyone remember Mr. Roberts? Some of you may remember the movie starring Henry Fonda as Mr. Roberts and Jack Lemmon as Ensign Pulver, for which he won his first Oscar for best supporting actor. I didn't remember the award but I remembered the name of the writer on whose book (1946) the play (1948) and the movie (1955) was based. Thomas Heggen (1918-1948) served on a supply ship during WWII and wrote a collection of anecdotes aka a novel that he turned into a play with a co-writer, Broadway director/actor/writer Joshua Logan (1908-1988). I didn't remember all the dates. What I do remember is the message and I often think of it.

If you are still with me, Mr. Roberts and Ensign Pulver serve on the supply ship Reluctant, sailing back and forth from Tedium to Apathy, putting in time and longing - some of them, notably Roberts - for action. The comedy arises from what the crew does out of boredom. Mr. Roberts finally gets his wish (part of the plot) to be transferred and is killed on his new ship by a kamikaze pilot. His only friend, Doc, receives word of his death and does not report this to the rest of the crew.

Because they are so inured to their boring life that they would receive the news of Mr. Roberts's death as another piece of trivia, good only for a moment's passing notice.

You see? I think of this often because I am in such danger of callous insensitivity, drugged as I am with a constant overload of information, entertainment, distractions, games, quizzes, gossip oh, - and cute cats, loveable dogs and donkeys, touching hard-luck stories, the maddening behaviour of certain politicians...I could go on and on and so could you. We all can and do.

"Oh, for a holiday in a complete vacuum!" That's a line from another favourite play, The Lady's Not for Burning, and I've quoted it before, not going into detail now.

I just mean that we are all going down in a sea of trivia, and FB is not helping.

Be careful. Be mindful .

What did I tell you? My stomach has (almost) stopped aching. It's raining. The Blue Jays are losing. I'll check ouit some more words I have been stockpiling. I'm almost to page 800 in my West book (Black Eagle andGrey Falcon), only 300 to go. Hence, more words.

juggins noun Brit. informal, dated simple-minded or gullible person: you silly juggins. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: perhaps from the surname Juggins, from Jug(see jug); compare with muggins. [I didn't think I'd find this one. Fun.]

slatko I didn't think I'd find this one and I didn't. I gather it's a kind of drink- wine?

minbar noun: a short flight of steps used as a platform by a preacher in a mosque. ORIGIN from Arabic minbar. [Never knew the name of these steps.]

guilder rose noun: a deciduous Eurasian shrub with flattened heads of fragrant creamy-white flowers, follo wed by clusters of translucent red berries.●Viburnum opulus, family Caprifoliaceae. See also snowball tree. ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from Dutch geldersche roos ‘rose of Gelderland’ (see Gelderland) .

chiral adjective Chemistry: asymmetric in such a way that the structure and its mirror image are not superimposable. DERIVATIVES chirality. noun ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Greek kheir ‘hand’ + -al. [I think I looked this up before. Doesn't hurt.]

Phanariot noun: a Greek official in Constantinople under the Ottoman Empire. ORIGIN modern Greek phanariōtēs, from Phanar, chief Greek quarter of Istanbul, from Greek planarian ‘lighthouse’ (one being situated in this area). [This for sure is from the West book. I doubt I'll ever use this one in a sentence. I'm not into Greek officials under the Ottoman Empire.)

eupeptic adjective: relating to or having good digestion or a consequent air of healthy good spirits. ORIGIN late 17th cent. (in the sense ‘helping digestion’): from Greek eupeptos, from eu ‘well, easily’ + peptein ‘to digest’. [I knew this but ti doesn't hurt to check.]

scullion nounarchaic: servant assigned the most menial kitchen tasks. ORIGIN late 15th cent. of unknown origin but perhaps influenced by scullery. [I've often said that if I had been born into another century, with my luck I'd have been a scullery maid. So I've known the word for a long time.]

ephebe noun (in ancient Greece): a young man of 18–20 years undergoing military training. DERIVATIVES ephebic adjective. ORIGIN via Latin from Greek ephēbos, from epi ‘near to’ + hēbē ‘early manhood’. [Again, not a word I'll use often, if at all. I read somewhere that the average person uses about 5000 words in his/her everyday speech, though I wonder about Millennials and the influence of acronyms in their texting. Anyway, someone once estimated my dormant vocabulary at about 30,000 words. After reading Rebecca West I hink I must be up to 31,000.]

frumenty |(also furmety) noun: [ mass noun ] Brit.an old-fashioned dish consisting of hulled wheat boiled in milk and seasoned with cinnamon and sugar. ORIGIN late Middle English: from Old French frumentee, from ferment, from Latin frumentum ‘corn’. [I bet it's full of gluten.]

The Blue Jays are losing but it's only the bottom of the fifth. Ah, well. I should talk about Damo Runyon some time.