Thank Goodness It's Monday #361

UNPACK YOUR PORTMANTEAU

(CHECK WIKIPEDIA) 
AND CELEBRATE JUNETEENTH 

Any Alice In Wonderland fans out there in TGIM Land?

If so, you may know that, via Humpty Dumpty, Lewis Carroll claimed naming rights to the description of "a word formed by blending sounds from two or more distinct words and combining their meanings."

He called this linguistic blend a –

Portmanteau word. (For all you stuffers of wheeled carry-ons into overhead compartments, in then-contemporary English, a portmanteau was a suitcase. The roots of the word are French but, in this usage, it’s an English word and so isn’t italicized.)

In Through the Looking-Glass Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the unusual words in Jabberwocky, the nonsense poem within the story.

You know it. It begins – 

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

 Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

 All mimsy were the borogoves,

 And the mome raths outgrabe.

There "slithy" means "lithe and slimy" and "mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable." Humpty Dumpty clarifies the practice of combining words in such ways by telling Alice:

“You see it's like a portmanteau

—there are two meanings packed up into one word.”

Now that you’ve been alerted to it, you’ll realize we use less whimsical portmanteau words all the time: Just the other day at brunch on our Amtrak journey we were discussing the politics of stagflation and fired up our Verizon connection to check Wikipedia to see if it could refudiate the origins of gerrymander.

Got it? Good. Now here’s another portmanteau word you need to know:

Juneteenth

American Flags of Freedom
U.S. & National Juneteenth Flag

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States and has been an African American tradition since the late 19th century.

But, although it’s recognized as a holiday or holiday observance in 41 states of the USA, an amazing (to me) number of people are unaware of it. (I even had to add it to my computer’s dictionary to keep it from tagging it as a misspelling.) 

Juneteenth -- aka Freedom Day or Emancipation Day -- honors African American heritage by commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas in 1865. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a portmanteau of June and eighteenth and nineteenth.

Historical context: Although Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had minimal immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in the Confederate States of America and especially as deeply south and as far west as Texas.

Juneteenth commemorates June 18 and 19, 1865

·         June 18 is the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its quarter million slaves.

·         On June 19, tradition has it, while standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of General Order No. 3: 

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor…”

Here’s one more very important point:

Note the date. This announcement came nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been made official, and more than two months after General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army had surrendered.
 

You can read more on the decline and subsequent resurgence of Juneteenth celebrations in many places such as Wikipedia (a 21^st Century portmanteau word; wiki from WikiWikiWeb, the first collaborative website software + pedia from encyclopedia).

But just imagine: Upon receiving the shocking news of their freedom, former slaves had to grapple with the realities of their new status -- what it meant to be an "employee"  … to have the option of migrating to search out and/or reunite with long lost family members … to suddenly need to carve out a new place for themselves within society at large … and more.

Juneteenth Celebration
Austin, Texas
June 19, 1900

TGIM Takeaway: Slavery conjures up negative images and emotions for most of us. It's hardly a concept that gets people in the mood to party. However, when we can view an occasion such as Juneteenth as a Celebration of Freedom, attitudes change.

 

Welcome to the 21^st Century: The abolition of slavery marked one of the greatest moral victories in our nation's history. Not only did it begin to restore basic human rights to all our forebears, but it was a giant step in securing for all the constitutional liberties we enjoy these days.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Juneteenth is a time for reflection. It's a time for appreciating the great struggles of our ancestors to achieve freedom, no matter their ethnicity.

·         If we don’t yet live in what’s been characterized as a “post-racial” society, then it behooves us to sort through why, and quickly move closer to that resolution.

·         If we do live in that post-racial world, then it’s a great time to celebrate with friends of every color, creed and persuasion.

 

Spread the word and share the experience. Imagine if the modern day equivalent of General Granger arrived in your town this Juneteenth with such dramatic news that affected you personally. It’s easy to take freedom and liberty for granted. We can all use a reminder from time to time.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Commemorating Juneteenth with the joy and appreciation it deserves is the best way to ensure those freedoms are forever shared. Learn more about Juneteenth. Celebrate tradition. Juneteenth signifies a time when African-American families were able to be reunited. Celebrate family.

 

In addition: Any occasion that features culturally significant traditional foods, red velvet cake, strawberry soda and barbecue seems like a good idea to me.

 

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

 

P.S. “The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation …  In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.” Abraham Lincoln declared that, December 1, 1862, in his Message to Congress on the State of the Union.