Butty / Buddy

A BUTTY back the history of northern England, was the middleman who negotiated between miners and the mine owners.

According to Merriam-Webster:
‘Originally coal was mined on a ‘butty’ system where a butty was a middleman between a gang of half a dozen workers and the proprietors, the miners being paid a fixed rate per ton.’

Current meaning:
— (Informal northern English): an open or filled sandwich
— A buddy, a friend or work mate

This word was first recorded in the late 1700s, possibly coming from “booty.”

Mohamed Hassan — Pixabay

BUDDY (noun) means a friend, or in general a fellow.
Said to a stranger: “Hey, buddy. Can’t you read the sign? Keep out!”
Seeking support or compassion:
“Can you spare some change for a cup of coffee, buddy?”

Synonyms: companion, partner, amigo, chum, comrade, crony, pal

Used as a verb, it means to be friendly with (first noted 1918)
“Patterson’s buddied up with Jane’s brother, hoping to get to meet her that way.”

More commonly used in North America, BUDDY possibly originated from a slurring of the word brother, or maybe a borrowed variation of the British “butty.”

 

News Flash in the Bird World

There was a Migration Conference at the Salt Marsh Resort last week, with hundreds of delegates in attendance. Our roving reporter, Tiny Kuusela, has done her usual spectacular, in-depth coverage. Rather than reblogging details of the whole event, I’ll encourage you to read all about it HERE.

The Blue Spruce

Poem by Edgar Guest

That Colorado spruce you see,
well, he’s a friend of mine,
for he’s been growing old with me
these last eight years or nine.
And every spring for my delight
he dons a silver dress
and seems to add unto his height
a foot or slightly less.

Some call him Colorado blue;
with that I quarrel not.
I only know whate’er his hue
I like his ways a lot.
Sturdy and straight and tall he stands
against what winds may blow
and sometimes holds his arms and hands
to catch the falling snow.

When our acquaintance first began
I’m sure he looked at me
and wondered if I were a man
who could befriend a tree.
But as the weeks and months slipped by
such doubting was destroyed,
and under clear or stormy sky
each other we’ve enjoyed.

I never walk about the place
but what I stop to chat.
Sometimes I tell him to his face,
“Old boy, you’re getting fat!”
And sometimes in his friendly way
that spruce looks down on me;
“You’re not as slim,” he seems to say,
“As once you used to be.”

From the book Along Life’s Highway
© 1933 by The Reilly & Britton Co.

Building on Boardwalk

go straight to Boardwalk
build two hotels, collect rent
poor fellow players

When I was nine we moved and I soon made a good friend on our block. Both only — lonely — children, we’d spend hours playing Monopoly and the game often came down to one of us saying, “If I ever land on Boardwalk, with all those hotels you’ve put up, I’ll be bankrupt!”

A Song

by Edgar Guest

None knows the day that friends must part;
none knows how near is sorrow.
If there be laughter in your heart,
don’t hold it for tomorrow.
Smile all the smiles you can today;
grief waits for all along with way.

Today is ours for joy and mirth;
we may be sad tomorrow;
then let us sing for all we’re worth,
nor give a thought to sorrow.
None knows what lies along the way;
let’s smile what smiles we can today.

 

from his book A Heap O’ Livin’
published 1916 by the Reilly & Britton Company