Santa Or Satan Essays - Santa Claus, Christian Folklore

Santa Or Satan? To Whom It May Concern: I regret to inform you that, effective immediately, I will no longer be able to serve Southern United States on Christmas Eve. Due to the overwhelming current population of the earth, my contract was renegotiated by North American Fairies and Elves Local 209. I now serve only certain areas of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. As part of the new and better contract I also get longer breaks for milk and cookies so keep that in mind. However, I'm certain that your children will be in good hands with your local replacement who happens to be my third cousin, Bubba Claus. His side of the family is from the South Pole. He shares my goal of delivering toys to all the good boys and girls; however, there are a few differences between us. Differences Such As: There is no danger of a Grinch stealing your presents from Bubba Claus. He has a gun rack on his sleigh and a bumper sticker that reads: These toys insured by Smith and Wesson. Instead of milk and cookies, Bubba Claus prefers that children leave an RC cola and pork rinds [or a moon pie] on the fireplace. And Bubba doesn't smoke a pipe. He dips a little snuff though, so please have an empty spit can handy. Bubba Claus' sleigh is pulled by floppy-eared, flying' coon dogs instead of reindeer. I made the mistake of loaning him a couple of my reindeer one time, and Blitzen's head now overlooks Bubba's fireplace. You won't hear On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen... when Bubba Claus arrives. Instead, you'll hear, On Earnhardt, on Wallace, on Martin and Labonte. On Rudd, on Jarrett, on Elliott and Petty. Ho, ho, ho! has been replaced by Yee Haw! And you also are likely to hear Bubba's elves respond, I her'd dat! As required by Southern highway laws, Bubba Claus' sleigh does have a Yosemite Sam safety triangle on the back with the words Back off. The last I heard it also had other decorations on the sleigh back as well. One is Ford or Chevy logo with lights that race through the letters and the other is a caricature of me (Santa Claus) going potty on the Tooth Fairy. The usual Christmas movie classics such as Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life will not be shown in your negotiated viewing area. Instead, you'll see Boss Hogg Saves Christmas and Smokey and the Bandit IV featuring Burt Reynolds as Bubba Claus and dozens of state patrol cars crashing into each other. Bubba Claus doesn't wear a belt. If I were you, I'd make sure you, the wife, and the kids turn the other way when he bends over to put presents under the tree. And finally, lovely Christmas songs have been sung about me like Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer and Bing Crosby's Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. This year songs about Bubba Claus will be played on all the AM radio stations in the South. Those song title will be Mark Chesnutt's Bubba Claus Shot the Jukebox; Cledus T. Judd's All I Want for Christmas Is My Woman and a Six Pack, and Hank Williams Jr.'s If You Don't Like Bubba Claus, You can shove It. Sincerely Yours, Santa Claus Member of North American Fairies and Elves Local 209 Bibliography none Supernatural Issues

Retaining the Connotation of Retinue

Retaining the Connotation of Retinue Retaining the Connotation of Retinue Retaining the Connotation of Retinue By Mark Nichol What is a retinue, and do you need one? That depends on whether you need to be retained. This post defines and discusses the term retinue and its synonyms. Retinue, derived from the French verb retenir, meaning â€Å"retain,† or â€Å"keep,† refers to a group of associates or attendants. Originally, it applied to retainers (that word also stems from retenir), servants who attended to a person of high rank. Now, it is more likely to pertain to friends, employees, and hangers-on a celebrity surrounds himself or herself with. Associated words include entourage, from the French verb entourer, meaning â€Å"surround†; this word is cognate with tour (a tour â€Å"surrounds† the area circumscribed by the travel route) and tourist. Then there’s cortege, from the Latin term cohors, meaning â€Å"enclosure† (and the origin of court as well as cohort), by way of the Italian verb corteggiare, meaning â€Å"court,† as in an effort to influence someone politically or romantically; cortege also refers to a parade of attendants and may apply specifically to a funeral procession. Suite (ultimately from the Latin word sequere, meaning â€Å"follow†- and the source of sequence- by way of Old French), tail (from an Old English word meaning â€Å"lock of hair†), and train (from the Middle French verb trainer, meaning â€Å"drag† or â€Å"draw†) are also used in the sense of â€Å"those attending on an important person.† Following is another word with this connotation, though it can easily be misunderstood to apply to someone’s far-flung fan base rather than to close associates. Two slang terms synonymous with retinue are crew (ultimately from the Latin verb crescere, meaning â€Å"grow†- and the source of crescent- by way of Middle French and later Middle English, in the sense of reinforcement), from an association with the company of sailors or other workers who conduct operations (though with the connotation of a convivial assembly), and posse. That last word is a truncation of the Latin phrase posse comitatus, meaning â€Å"power of the county† and referring to a group of citizens deputized to assist in law enforcement or rescue. In popular culture, posse became associated with the Old West, conjuring the image of a band of men in a frontier town temporarily authorized to assist a county sheriff or a federal marshal with hunting down a fugitive outlaw. This meme inspired an association of the term with a rambunctious retinue accompanying a pop star. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Royal Order of Adjectives 5 Brainstorming Strategies for WritersUsing "May" in a Question

Read the instruction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Read the instruction - Essay Example The most prevalent cases of civil law may comprise of negligence, physical attack, battery and informed consent (Follin & Springhouse Corporation, 2004). The criminal and civil laws govern the relationship between patients and doctors in order to make it professional and trustworthy. This implies that they spell out the actions against the offenders to avoid breach and negligence. The patients’ Bill of Rights concerns the privileges guaranteed to new applicants of medical insurance cover. It guarantees the patients’ information, fair conduct and independence over medical decisions among others. This implies that a patient has the right to access correct and simple information about his or her health plan (Shapiro, 2009). As a result, a patient who does not understand another language or experiences a mental disability should receive assistance in order to make an informed medical decision. The Bill also provides for the fair treatment in which the patient is advised on the best options to take. In this regard, a patient should ask about the benefits and side effects of any treatment to be administered. Under the Bill, patients have a right to respect and non-discrimination by showing and receiving considerate and courteous care from medical practitioners and family members (Shapiro, 2009). The other important part of the Bill is the right to pri vacy to consult doctors or access medical records. However, in cases of complaints or appeals, patients should have a fast, reasonable and objective assessment against a health institution, doctors or personnel. HIPAA laws affect the Patients Bill of Rights because it covers both long-term and new applicants of the medical cover (Shapiro, 2009). However, it only deals with the privacy of patients concerning their health records, decisions and disclosures. This makes it tricky to implement the other details provided for in the Patients’ Bill of rights. As a result,