We all know why football is called football. I am not talking about the ball (object) per se. I am talking about the game that is played with it. But I always wonder how some names of other sports originated. Cricket - which also is the name of an insect – surprises me first. Others include Golf, Hockey, Tennis and an indeed surprising one - Formula one. I am sure there must be a story behind each of these names, but there is no simple explanation.
I was looking at a message which said that UNO has decided to celebrate Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's birthday (Oct 15th) as WORLD STUDENTS DAY. Quite an honor, isn't it? Right then it struck me that TEACHERS DAY falls in the month of September. Then, my brain did what it always does; it started wandering. It was thinking, “September is the ninth month and October is the tenth.” So what? Well it thought further, “September can be shortened as SEP, October as OCT”. Now where exactly was my brain going with this?
If we talk of polygons then one with seven sides is called SEPTAGON, eight is OCTAGON, nine is NONAGON and ten is DECAGON. When we look at the first few letters, we can think of September, October, November and December. Now as per the calendar they are month no. 9, 10, 11 and 12, but their names correspond to 7, 8, 9, and 10. Mysterious! Of course, if you read up about the Gregorian calendar you will know the story behind the names of each of these months. But again, it is a bit hard to explain.
Then I think of Indian names of people. Majority of them are meaningful. Of course you have pet-names which make no sense, but they are not official and they are not many. On the contrary if you take western names, then meaning is the last thing you can associate with them. Amar, Akbar, Anthony – just three random Indian people I say, will find their western counterparts in Tom, Dick and Harry. Before you quiz me, I must say that Anthony means HIGHLY PRAISEWORTHY. Once again google saves me.
This world is so full of mysteries. Here I am pointing out just names, but there is so much that stays unexplained. I think the beauty of it is in STAYING UNEXPLAINED. Mankind is crazy to be running behind trying to know each and everything. I don’t know how many will agree with me, but I think this. The more we try to find reason behind every phenomenon, the more we distance ourselves from God. And aren’t we the same who have given God so many different names?
I was looking at a message which said that UNO has decided to celebrate Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's birthday (Oct 15th) as WORLD STUDENTS DAY. Quite an honor, isn't it? Right then it struck me that TEACHERS DAY falls in the month of September. Then, my brain did what it always does; it started wandering. It was thinking, “September is the ninth month and October is the tenth.” So what? Well it thought further, “September can be shortened as SEP, October as OCT”. Now where exactly was my brain going with this?
If we talk of polygons then one with seven sides is called SEPTAGON, eight is OCTAGON, nine is NONAGON and ten is DECAGON. When we look at the first few letters, we can think of September, October, November and December. Now as per the calendar they are month no. 9, 10, 11 and 12, but their names correspond to 7, 8, 9, and 10. Mysterious! Of course, if you read up about the Gregorian calendar you will know the story behind the names of each of these months. But again, it is a bit hard to explain.
Then I think of Indian names of people. Majority of them are meaningful. Of course you have pet-names which make no sense, but they are not official and they are not many. On the contrary if you take western names, then meaning is the last thing you can associate with them. Amar, Akbar, Anthony – just three random Indian people I say, will find their western counterparts in Tom, Dick and Harry. Before you quiz me, I must say that Anthony means HIGHLY PRAISEWORTHY. Once again google saves me.
This world is so full of mysteries. Here I am pointing out just names, but there is so much that stays unexplained. I think the beauty of it is in STAYING UNEXPLAINED. Mankind is crazy to be running behind trying to know each and everything. I don’t know how many will agree with me, but I think this. The more we try to find reason behind every phenomenon, the more we distance ourselves from God. And aren’t we the same who have given God so many different names?
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