meme - mechaieh - manifesti - more

[bronze_ribbons]

schemingreader promulgateth the name meme: "Explain your LiveJournal name and its meaning. When you're done, tag as many people as there are letters in your name."

From Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish:

Pronounced m'-KHY-eh, to rhyme with 'Messiah.' The 'kh' sound is, of course, the way a MacTavish would roll it out. From Hebrew.

Pleasure, great enjoyment, a real joy.

...When you take off your shoes and stretch out in front of a fire, that's a mechaieh.

When you hear a great virtuoso sing, it's a mechaieh.

...Mechaieh comes from the Hebrew chay, meaning 'life.' Technically, a mechaieh is one who gives life. (Mechaieh also meant God.)

Yiddish-speaking Jews converted the word into 'putting life into' or 'giving pleasure.' That in itself was a mechaieh.

So why the name? Because it reminds me of who I want to be and why I write. Because, in spite of there being far more quarrel than love in my own lover's quarrel with the world on many days, I am so very glad to be alive, and because I believe in bearing witness to what is good and generous and giddy-making. It makes my heart so glad when I've introduced someone to a story or song that makes them laugh or gives them strength, or when corresponding/chatting with me helps them fine-tune a paper or project they're working on. I have a reputation in certain circles as a macher (woman who gets things done--and is, er, not always gentle about it), but I'm happier as a makar -- an old Scottish word for "poet" that I love, both for its history and its phonetic edge: there's a slipping-into-sharpness in the combination of the "m" and "k" that captures the cutting and honing inherent in the craft (at least, as I practice it. Aye, I know I lost at least half of you there -- and the rest of you already knew I was daft long before LJ was a gleam on our computer screens...).

Anyway, speaking of makars... there's a long tradition of writing laments in tribute to them, starting with William Dunbar. I just came across Joe Scanlan's version, and mispunctuation notwithstanding, good golly, it gets me:

...Since there's no remedy for Death,
Best is we draw our every breath,
In fond ephemerality—
Fear of death unsettles me.

So follow me into the lave,
And take your time from god to grave,
Sparing not your faculties—
Fear of death unsettles me.

Unto the end we'll scrutinize,
The blooming of forsythias,
In admirable absurdity—
Fear of death unsettles me.

And since we'll devote all our years,
To making things that disappear...

---

And yet more on the passing of makars: I was never interested in attending Mount Holyoke, but I kept the school's recruitment brochure for years, because I was fascinated by its profile of historian-poet Peter Viereck, who died last week. The brochure included a version of his oft-revised "Poet," which also appears in his essay "Strict Form in Poetry: Would Jacob Wrestle with a Flabby Angel?" (Critical Inquiry, Winter 1978). It begins,

The night he died, earth's images all came
To gloat in liberation round his tomb.
No vengeful colors, stones, and faces dare
       To argue with his metaphor;
And stars his fancy painted on the skies
Drop down like swords
                                   to pierce his too wide eyes.

Viereck's New York Times obituary ends with these lines:

Though life ails just a day faster than art allays,
Though age rots art before it can learn to sing true,
Sing anyhow. Continue.

And, a New Yorker profile of him from last fall ends with this quote:

I can think of nothing more gallant, even though again and again we fail, than attempting to get at the facts; attempting to tell things as they really are. For at least reality, though never fully attained, can be defined. Reality is that which, when you don’t believe in it, doesn’t go away.

---

My reality includes the fact that being underproductive makes me cross and mopey, and it's been that kind of day (and week, for that matter). That said, I did manage a number of chores and errands, which did include a stop at the bookstore, where I caught sight of this week's Economist cover and burst out laughing (no, not nice of me at all. Alas). Also, Green Man Review gave the The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature a rave review, and my copies of Becoming Fire: Spiritual Writings from Rising Generations arrived today (the anthlogy includes my poems “Rosh Hashanah,” “A Prayer,” and “A Whisper").

Sparing not your faculties... sing anyhow. Onwards.

---

ETA: oh, right, this started with a meme a couple of screens ago... Tagging (but only if they want to be...) ... busaikko, musigneus, xanthophyllippa, qrssama, athenakt, qe2, suedejesus, and retrobabble. (With some of you, I've my guesses, but I don't actually know...)

Comments

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Timor mortis conturbat me...

It's one of the great macaronic poems, and possibly Dunbar's best. In Dunfermline/He hath done roun/With Maister Robert Henrysoun....

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I love your description of your lj name. The details weren't new to me (unsurprisingly) but the section beginning ...When you take off your shoes and stretch out in front of a fire, that's a mechaieh put me in mind of the old song "That's Amor-e," which is stuck in my head now. *g*

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Ah-tay-nigh-ees. French version of Athena. Used for females in France, males in England where they pronounced it Ath-uh-nays. It went out of favor after the 18th century. I answer to both versions at Livejournal parties.

I chose it because I adore Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan. She wasn't a particularly good person, but she was extraordinary. She fascinated all who knew her, whether they liked her or not.

[busaikko]

bu sai (pause) ko; rather like, 'boo psycho'....

busai in Japanese means "butt-ugly", and "ko" is affixed to girls' names, and means child. We got a Valentine from a kindergarten friend of my son's addressed to "busaiko-baby" and I thought, "you know, that's a great name."

No, really. (^-^)

[retrobabble.livejournal.com]

Wow - everyone is so fancy.

Originally, I'd wanted to be retrobabe, the 'retro' portion standing for my love of the design periods from 1880-1940, but the name was already taken. One of my friends made a comment on how I "babble" all the time about period architecture, and there you have it. :)

[musigneus.livejournal.com]

Explanation of your name was fascinating! (And I'll try to correct the way I've been saying it in my head...)

My name is just the Latin words for fiery and mouse smushed together. It's half joke and half rueful admission of personality. ;)

[athenakt.livejournal.com]

Meh? All right then... here's my response to the meme.

http://athenakt.livejournal.com/19489.html