God Rest Yee Merry Gentlemen

George Sassoon wrote: Merry Christmas!  Incidentally, some churchman in England has decreed that his choir should sing a politically-correct version of this carol: God  rest ye merry, persons!

Glenye Cain upbraids George: Shouldn't that be "some churchperson"? Just kidding, of course!  RH: My Christmas present to WAISers: "upbraid" means etymologically to shake up. So in Americanese George is all shook up.

Ardent Bushite Randy Black asked rather defiantly "When did  Bush say "I believe that God wants me to be president"? Randy will find a long answer in the latest, special Christmas  issue of The Economist (p. 39), in an article titled "George Bush and God. A hot line to heaven".

Time marches on, WAISers know Christine Bennett as Dean Emerita of Notre Dame de Namur University.  It must have been in the 1940s that she arrived with her father from England.  They had no place to stay, so we put them up. Now I get this message from her: My best wishes for a very happy Christmas to you and your family, and may 2005 keep you healthy and as alert as ever to all our many and various messages. My contribution to WAIS will arrive after January 1st, due to my overlooking it before leaving for the chilly north, here in Alberta to spend Christmas with my father, turning 96 in January. 

RH: Please give´our best wishes to your father, and congratulations.  There seems to be an`inverse relationship between climate and longevity. It does not make sense to me. Can anyone explain it?

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