The Once-in-a-While
Daily News

1  "Badda book. Badda boom." 

2  Some commercial on teevee just said that.

3  "Badda book. Badda boom," that is. Some hotel thing or other had a commercial with that in it. 

4   By "just" I mean Sunday night. I was watching a REELZ doc on Elvis, and a commercial played. It said, "Badda book. 

Badda boom." Just shoot me. 

5  An entire new generation is going to change the classic "Badda bing, badda boom" to that. 

6  I Googled the latter. I didn't bother going to Urban Dictionary. I knew what the translation was, but here is what the Google tease had to say. This is a faux link, so don't try it. It's just for show. I did recreate what it looks like in Urban Dictionary. If I copy/paste, it will affect the fonts, or someone might lose an ear or something. Anyway, it looks exactly like this: 

Urban Dictionary: Botta Bing Botta Boom

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term-Botta%20Bing%20Botta%20Boom 

Jul 22, 2008 - This term is used by Italian mafia types to express their opinion that whatever they are planning is going to be a snap.

7  Botta bing, botta boom.

8  I did a good job of simulating a Google tease, don't you think?

9

10  <crickets>

11  I always thought that "Botta bing, botta boom' first distorted itself on the teevee series The Sopranos, but it was at least in keeping with its more familiar niche. In 2003, the word, now popularized by The Sopranos, made its way to the venerable and exalted Oxford English Dictionary. 

12  I never saw it spelled out, to be honest. I assumed it was spelled "Botta-bing, botta-boom." The bar in The Sopranos spelled it "Bada bing."

13  The only support I get there is from the selfsame Urban Dictionary.

14  Growing up half Italian, I'm pretty sure I heard the expression once or twice. I mix those memories quite often with scenes from The Godfather, many of which reminded me of huge parties on the Italian side of the family. The only difference was that we didn't kill people.

15  Not that I know of. 

16  But I digress, as always. I never really gave it a thought. The OED doesn't recognize "Botta Bing." It recognizes "bada-bing" and cites its etymology (origin) as "etymology unknown."

Here is my abridged simulation of the OED etymology, proving I was wrong all along:

bada-bing, int.

Origin: of uncertain origin.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps imitative of the sound of a drum roll and cymbal clash (compare BOOM-BOOM int.). Perhaps compare Italian bada bene mark well. 

Slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).

  Suggesting something happening suddenly, 
emphatically and predictably; 'Just like that!', 
'Presto!'

17  That solves it. I was wrong. Sue me.

18  Sue me. 

19  Shoot bullets through me. 

20  I love you.

21  Botta-bing.

22  Moving On, Part One: One of the perks of being retired is I get to watch a lot of teevee. I don't know how good that is for a soul, but at least I can watch Mitt Romney say things like, "What's up, gangstas?"

23  Or Richard Nixon play the piano, Bill Clinton play the saxophone, or Donald Trump play the fool to Jimmy Fallon. 

24  Here go, sport.

25  

26  Sometimes that foo be too easy.

27  Moving On, Part Two: I love how as I tack away at this nonsense each week, Grammarly gets disengaged, sort of like the entire mechanism of the film Inside Out. 

28  This week in particular it tried to correct the word "Botta" about six times, "teevee," three times, and "week in particular" once. 

29  It wanted "week, in particular," which of course would be considered correct, but not correct to me. Too many commas. Goes against a basic rule of commas I've always adopted, which is this: less is more. 

30  

31  Well excuse me. Fewer is more. 

32  Oh, Grammarly! Sometimes you are so right that I mistake you for a Republican.

33  If you are indeed that picky, then why didn't you correct me down to "fewer are more?" 

34  Because we can carve this language up into itsy-bitsy pieces and scatter it all to the winds, that's why.

35  But only if you know the book, inside and out. 

36  In order to do that, you must needs grab an old edition of Warriner's English Grammar and Composition. I prefer the fourth course, but any extant edition should work well for those open-minded enough to realize that quality grammar books in 2017 are few and far between. 

37  I shall again throw a link out there to some of you hungry enough to desire great grammar skills. Here's a link to Barnes and Noble:

Warriner's English Grammar and Comp 4th Course

38  $1.99. From Barnes and Noble. I had no idea when I clicked the link. This is a steal. Granted, you have to figure out the correct answers to the exercises, but you could do that with friends. If you really get stuck on an answer, just shoot me an email at gfharrington@aol.com. I'll be happy to figure out the answer, or even work through a series of exercises with you. 

39 Build a new brain for practically nothing. My daughter Caitlin inspired me on that one recently. She posted something about getting smarter faster. Pretty simple concept if you ask me. I had no idea the concept would fall gently onto my desktop and flutter to these pages. 

40

42  Too flowery?

43  Ah, I see you're learning already. 

44  LOL.

45  

46  Thanks, K.T.

47  This was lofty.

48  As always tho, I gottago.

49  Like that? "tho." 

50  It rhymes.

51  Captain Poetry over here. Which reminds me. Today is "Share a Joke Day," I think. I don't really have a good joke, but would love to share my favorite Haiku, which I consider to be one of the coolest jokes ever. AND it is by far my favorite Haiku of all time. I didn't write it, but I love whoever did. Ready? Here it is. The greatest Haiku of all time:

I don't like Haikus.
I don't understand Haikus.
Refrigerator.

52  See you again.

53  Have a GREAT day.

54  Live life.

55  Love life. Learn something new, willya?

56  Peace. 

fin.

The Once-in-a-While

Daily News: For Love

of Game

1  Looks like I'm going to Hawaii come November. First time ever. We're gonna hang in Kauai, where they have chickens.

2  Our old pal Sally has a place, so looks like I'm flying, never my choice even though it HAS to be better than driving the highways and byways of Sacramento, Sannozay, or, dare I say it, Sacred Lake Tahoe, which has some of the worst drivers on the planet. 

3  I wrote this on Sunday, which was a recovery day from a wonderful wedding on Friday. Got all that, or did your left ear lobe disengage?

4  Thuy Ann, the bride, was a member of the illustrious Class of '05, which must have been born under cosmic conditions. In fact, '04 and '05 put out some of the most brilliant, albeit competitive sorts the like of which I hadn't seen since the class of '98. In short, both classes teemed with genuine smiles and good nature, overall. I was the advisor to the Class of '05, and I'm proud to have worked in that capacity. 

5  I always hate mentioning these things because classes that weren't of those championship seasons often felt a tad left out, like, "We were good too..." 

6  Simmer down, willya? I have awesome stories I could share about every year I taught. I LOVED teaching at Yerba Buena High School, even though I taught lots of kids who thought the abbreviation "YB"  stood for "Why bother?"

7  Why bother? Well, because nearly every student I ever taught went on to some manner of success. Yes, Thuy Ann's class (as well as Dr. John and Lawyer Peter's classes) had a certain spark that you couldn't really measure, but all classes had spark, as well as a rich diversity, which is why I loved YB. Dr. John was originally John Le, a bright light and an incredible friend, and Peter Tran, reserved, subtle, and hilarious all at the same time. Good guys and great students from the Class of '04. Both are considered success stories in the history of YB.

8  And success is subjective. It's a high school concept that simply doesn't measure up to the number of people who followed their hobbies rather than their dreams after graduating. I know LOTS of amazing young artists who worked (and work) day jobs, but who also got involved in playing in bands, in singing, in developing their personal talents, and in keeping true to their own souls. To me, that defines success. Many passed that love to their children. I love watching kids who are seven years old outplaying me on a Gibson, for example. Nothing better. 

9  I'm not trying to give "participation" points here. I'm saying that it isn't all about competition; it's about enjoying what you can with what you have, and realizing you have your own successes.

10  If I sound preachy I apologize. It's just that I have witnessed many successes over the years. People find their own concept of success, and most seem good with it. 

11  I'm still working on trying to maintain a steady rhythm on guitar. Never mastered it, still trying. 

12  Meanwhile, kids seven are crushing it on guitar. 

13  I have succeeded at my own level, but it is nice to know that there is always someone better. It inspires me. 

14  Moving On, Part One: At one point somewhere around mid-2006, I sighed, because Thuy Ann's class was no longer around. It wasn't that they were THAT good, but there were LOTS of them, and my classroom, a portable right across from the Theatre, had become the living cliche of a "beehive of activity" the year prior. Every other day saw lively lunches, Spirit Week plots, heroic plans to give to the community, as well as continued efforts to enjoy their final year in high school, complete with lots of laughter and lots great times.

15  I also had a sixth-period prep in '05. I always had the window slud open so I could get some fresh air and enjoy the sounds of birds fluttering and chirping outside. 

And I also knew that within minutes of the bell ringing, Thuy Ann would pop her head through the window and smile this goofy smile that meant we were going to go looking for stuff for Spirit Week, or for a Spring class competition called FANTASTICS, or for Prom, or even for Graduation. 

16  We would often sail around, blasting music, and go hither and yon. GREAT rides, and GREAT talks. 

17  I loved it because we could do that. Well, technically we couldn't but I always felt it was all for the students. 

18  Sidebar: Six former administrators just fell off their bar stools. Hey, it's okay for you guys to drink and enjoy life a little too, you know. Just text and I can bring you a pillow, and a glass of ice water. Pour said drink over your head and relax, willya? Life's short. But I digress.

19  Nah. Bottom line: a lot of it had to do with what I called game. I told this to the 2006 crowd: those guys in '04 and in '05 had game. And they loved it. Their departures quieted that game down, but I knew all students had game, in one fashion or another. 

20  I always loved that term for some reason.

21  "Du got game!" 

22  At the risk of falling off the rails, may I digress yet again?

23  Off the rails.

24  Years ago (as I again go in a different direction!) I was grading a bunch of papers, and, while I no longer have the 

actual document with me, I came across a paper by a wannabe "gangsta" who wrote, "So I said to my boy, 'Hey, Du!...' " which stopped me for about two minutes. Only THEN did it materialize: "Hey, Du!" translated roughly to, "Hey Dude!"

25  Don't make it bad. 

26  Du got game. And on a grand scale, the wedding of Thuy-Ann and Dominic filled with all of that and then some. It was awesome seeing former students, then laughing and reminiscing. I know it sounds preposterous, but all of them looked as wonderful as ever. 

27  I feel that way about everybody I ever knew. I think a lot of people "got game." Thuy Ann's younger sisters, Nancy and Amy paid tribute to Thuy Ann as a "goody-goody" but also as an awesome role model. Game. A young lady who had always been in awe of Dominic stood before the newlyweds and paid tribute by performing a string version of I Can't Help Falling in Love With You. The entire place fell silent, and tears poured. Game. Dominic danced with his Mom, and it was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Thuy-Ann ran after her Dad and brought him out to the dance floor, and they danced, and her eyes welled up with love for the man who taught her everything. The inspiration became palpable to all who witnessed it. 

28  And there was so much more, but I've been busy, and it was all I could do to get this piece out there. So I'll shorten it for all concerned. 

29   Thuy-Ann and Dominic, congratulations, and to all who contributed to the wedding, thank you for bringing out the spirit, the love, and the game. Your priest (forgive me, I didn't get his name) delivered a sermon about your love for each other that sounded almost like the greatest love in the history of the world.

30  From what I saw, it darned well might have been. And the two of you have formed a new family. 

31  The world will be a better place because of it. 

32  Congrats, congrats, and congrats. Great game.

33  It's just that I gottago.

34  I don't wanna go.

35  But I just gotta. 

36  Class act. Thank you.

37   To the rest of you reading this, thank you for traveling along. 

38  We'll see you all soon.

39  Have a GREAT day.

40  Live life.

41  Love life.

42  Peace.

~H~

fin.