St-Jean Baptiste Day in Quebec = 0. World Cup of Futebol in Europe = 1. Final Score!

Again I must point out, as I do each year it seems, that Quebeckers have absolutely NOTHING in common with John The Baptist!
I mean - the Baptist was known for his LOUD VOICE, right? Quebec is so shy they actually had a QUIET REVOLUTION! "LA RÉVOLUTION TRANQUILLE" they called it in French-Canadian... must have been sparked by the famous Monsieur Tranquille -a puppet, for those of you who don't know who THAT is- which, in turn is telling of where Quebec really stands in the Big Picture here... Hint-hint! À bon entendeur - SALUT!

All the tiny or big flags of Québec colors that will be shaken today will be so half-convincingly by an endangered species to boot... Whereas, the folks who are futebol-crazy right now (whether it is for their country or for the land of their ancestors) agitate their flags and colors vigorously and with genuine patriotism! And this in the celebration of a game! National pride is at stake though... Celebrating a dying culture that never should have been implanted in North America is one thing (and increasingly becoming a moot point too) - but fervent ancestral patriotic pride never dies! That cannot be faked, folks! Nor created... There is no such thing as a fabricated nation, no matter how much the culture is implanted and "protected" by law... That is but stubbornness!



If Quebeckers bare no resemblance to John The Baptist, I sure do resemble the lead singer of P.O.D. - especially when the song is as brainy and nostalgic as GOOD BYE FOR NOW... And just like him, I wonder WHEN WILL WE SING A NEW SONG? The same old song is dragging this planet down the tubes, you know what I mean...?!? AND I COULD SCREAM UNTIL THE WORLD GOES DEAF indeed - and none would listen... right? Probably depends WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS that day...!

No kidding that the word of the day for June 24th is a very odd one - about as odd as this holiday is itself!
Word of the Day for Saturday June 24, 2006
Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.

The venture capital business has a size problem. A monstrous, staggering, stupefying one. Brobdingnagian even.
-- Russ Mitchell, "Too Much Ventured Nothing Gained", Fortune, November 11, 2002

Any savvy dealer . . . will try to talk you up to one of the latest behemoths, which have bloated to such Brobdingnagian dimensions as to have entered the realm of the absurd.
-- Jack Hitt, "The Hidden Life of SUVs", Mother Jones, July/August 1999

Brobdingnagian comes from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels.