When "Carousel," the second stage musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway on April 19, 1945, the audience left the theater in buoyant spirits. Not at all disappointed by the talented team who had set their own bar ridiculously high with "Oklahoma!" just two years earlier, theatergoers were enthralled by the new show's score. Among the songs destined to be standards (including "If I Loved You" and "You'll Never Walk Alone"), the most rousing number of the evening was "June Is Bustin' Out All Over!"
For anyone familiar with long northeastern winters and the stubborn hesitations of spring, the joy of that song needs no explanation. Today is but four days into June, and already there's a palpable shift from one calendar page to the next. Just look around and it's true -- June really is bustin' out all over. Not that May failed to do its part -- indeed, the overnight frosts were obliterated and the trees were set abloom in grand fashion -- but where May leaves off, June takes over with even more panache.
June makes nature a busy place, and it's a small wonder that it has lent its name to things that grow (Juneberries), things that fly (June bugs), and things that swim (June suckers). Sadly, "June butter" is a term that is all but obsolete, but once it was known to mean "butter made in the month of June, regarded as being of particularly high quality." (If our doctors knew about this, they'd probably tell us to switch to something scrumptious like "June unsaturated nonhydrogenated soy lecithin.")
June makes the calendar a busy place, too. Not only is this Dairy Month (hey, why doesn't the National Dairy Council resurrect "June butter"?), it is also Great Outdoors Month (take a hike to a dairy farm), Adopt-a-Cat Month (bring a feline home to your great indoors), Drive Safe Month (keep those cats away from busy streets), Fruit and Vegetable Month (watch for cars pulling out of farm markets), Iced Tea Month (throw some peach slices in your Tetley), Rose Month (plant tea roses!), Safety Month (careful with those thorns), Tennis Month (don't play with Jimmy Connors), Potty Training Awareness Month (give a big baby a chance to grow up), and Turkey Lovers Month (try to explain to your little ones why this is not in November -- then please explain it to me).
Without a doubt, June enjoys a special reverence and popularity. As sportscaster Al Bernstein once wrote, "Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June." Brides and wedding planners have long agreed, and although the obvious reason for that would seem to be the expectation of glorious June weather, it should be noted that there is a traditional June connection to matrimony that runs a little deeper: June, the month, was named for Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. (Isn't it odd how so many of our modern practices, even the most religious ones, continue to have cultural and linguistic ties to mythological and pagan beliefs?)
Whatever praise of June may be sung, whatever tradition of June may be observed, it's possible that the purest affection for the month lies in the heart of every child who sits in a classroom in May and feels an irrepressible twinge of cheer at the very thought of June. Now that September is gaining ground as the new "wedding month," perhaps it's time to reinvent some of the language of Roman mythology and cast Juno as the goddess of summer vacations.     Edmeston resident Christine A. Lindberg, senior U.S. lexicographer for Oxford University Press, is the principal content editor of Oxford's American English dictionaries and thesauruses. Opinions expressed by Lindberg in this column are done so independently, and do not necessarily reflect the policies and practices of Oxford University Press.Have a question or comment relating to the English language? Email languagewithlindberg@gmail.com. Selected submissions will be answered here periodically. Her columns can be found online at www.thedailystar.com/language.
Let's Look At The Language
June is bustin' out all over!
- Let's Look At The Language
-
-
'We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne'
By Christine A. Lindberg A song that "owns" a particular day of the year is rare.
-
Here comes Santa Claus ... where'd he get that snazzy red suit?
Years ago, I had a book of letters written to Santa Claus, and I remember that, among all the messages of "bring me this," "bring me that," and "I'll leave you a plate of cookies," one little boy had written, "Dear Santa, Where did you get your snazzy red suit?" I wouldn't be surprised if the author of that question grew up to be either a reporter or a fashion consultant, but in any event, I hope he got an answer to his question.
-
Where do I plug in these Electric Prunes?
Those of us who make the family feasts of Thanksgiving and Christmas magically appear on the table know there's nothing magic about it.
-
The sometimes-cryptic language of company names
Cream cheese originated in 1872 as the result of William Lawrence's failure to duplicate the French cheese Neufchatel. By 1880, he knew his "accidental cheese" was good enough for distribution, so he packaged it in foil wrappers and called it Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
-
Humorist Will Rogers: One of the crown jewels in American language
Defined as "a humorous writer, performer or artist," a humorist could technically be anyone who makes you laugh, but my concept of a humorist is not nearly so broad
-
Not quite an 'Ode to Pepé Le Pew' after gross, stinky encounter
My previous column ended with the words "sweet dreams," which are nice if you can get 'em, but sometimes the occasion of slumber time is a few degrees short of sweet.
-
What will my dream-doctor say about this orgledream in my head?
I just read a snippet of folklore that tells me "a dream of grasshoppers means that something is confusing you."
-
Names of hurricanes don't match reality
When the storm named Irene barreled up into Edmeston four weeks ago, I didn't think I'd still be looking down upon the vestiges of her destruction from my upstairs windows.
-
Sometimes an unremarkable day is the one we should cherish the most
Ten years ago today, it was a summery Sept. 10 here in Central New York. The temperature hovered in the 80s and there was an occasional drizzle here and there.
-
'Don't miss it, don't even be late' The Great New York State Fair is here
"Our state fair is a great state fair! Don't miss it, don't even be late. It's dollars to doughnuts that our state fair is the best state fair in our state!"
-
Some of it's all Greek to me, but mostly it's just herbaceously aromatic
For the past five years, I've been a container gardener (having given up the backyard to my dogs).
-
Like gods on the heptagram, so are the days of our week
-
'Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?' just not the same
When the Baltimore Orioles' third baseman took the field on May 30, 1982, not even Nostradamus could have foreseen that one of the most celebrated streaks in baseball was beginning at that very moment. The player was Cal Ripken Jr., whose 2,131st consecutive game on Sept. 6, 1995, surpassed Lou Gehrig's "unsurpassable" record.
-
A frabjous Fourth of July to everyone!
If there's one date in history that every American can cite, it's the day that the Continental Congress gave its nod to the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776.
-
I wonder if ancient Romans ever put sanctions on that two-faced Janus
Someone recently asked me if I could explain the meaning of the word "sanction.
-
Go ahead and have a rat on a stick, but please don't call it a lollipop
I recent read that this Tuesday is National Escargot Day. I was unable to find any compelling evidence that this is an official national day for any nation in particular, but it does seem that throughout the U.K. and North America, French restaurants have happily adopted the day as a time to celebrate their garlicky little mollusks.
-
Onomatopoeic power of wheatgrass souffle
“The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named” is the New Oxford American Dictionary’s definition of “onomatopoeia” (Ah-Nuh-mah-tuh-PEE-uh).
-
The language of Benjamin Franklin, in whatever name he used
When Benjamin Franklin died 221 years ago this month, the entire Western world mourned, yet his gravestone reads (in full), “Benjamin and Deborah Franklin 1790.”
-
There's nothing like a good spoonerism to tickle a bunny phone
The English economist Sir Roy Forbes Harrod (1900"1978) once said that, compared to all the scholars he had known at Oxford and Cambridge, the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844"1930) was the most exceptional in "scholarship, devotion to duty, and wisdom." There is no reason to question Harrod's assessment, but that's not exactly the imprint by which Spooner is best remembered.
-
'We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne'
