4). Christmas Quiz (Answer in brackets)

1). The 26th of December is the Feast Day for which saint? (St Stephen)

2). Which reindeer has a red nose? (Rudolph)

3). In Britain we eat turkey for the Christmas meal. What do they eat in the Czech Republic? (Carp)

4). On which day are the Christmas decorations taken down? (12th Night i.e. 6th January)

5). On the first day of Christmas my true love give to me a partridge in a pear tree* What did she give me on the 5th? (Five golden rings) *From traditional Xmas Song

6). Where is the Christmas fairy usually found? (At the top of the Christmas tree)

7). Where does mistletoe grow? From which country do we now buy it? (On an apple tree, from France)

8). For good luck the first person who enters a home in the New Year should carry what? and what sort of person does one need? (A dark person who carries coal)

9). Which country usually gives a Christmas tree to London? (Norway)

10). Which composer wrote the Christmas Carol "Hark- the Herald Angels Sing" (Felix Mendelssohn)

11). At the New Year we sing 'Auld Lang Syne'. Who wrote it? (Robbie Burns)

12). What was the names of the three Wise Men who visited the manger? (Kaspar, Melchior and Balthazar)

13). Apart from gold, they gave the Baby frankincense and myrrh. From where do they originate? (Tree resins)

14). In Britain we eat the chief Christmas meal at noon on the 25th. When do they in Europe?

(During the Evening of the 24th)

15). Which animals always celebrate their birthdays on the 1st of January?

(Racehorses - all registered with a Jan.1st birth in United Kingdom)

16). In Britain we eat a plum pudding for Christmas. Why do they eat in Europe? (A chocolate log)

17). Why should one not light a fire during the night of the 24th of December? (Because Father Christmas must climb down the chimney)

18). In what aspect do reindeers differ from other deer? (The female have antlers)

2). Call My Bluff

a). Podagro

i). For animals who do not have in Esperanto a common name (such as dog, cat, elephant etc.) we consider the zoological name according to the system of Linnaeus. All animals have two names in the Latin- the genus and the species names e.g. man is Homo sapiens, cat is Felix cattus. Usually Esperanto uses the genus name e.g. ansero (goose), fenikoptero (flamingo).

A porcupine is Podagrus americanus and so the Esperanto word for porcupine is podagro.

ii).At the present time Esperanto is growing well in Africa but the Africans complain that, although Esperanto is an international language, the majority of the word derivation originates from European languages. Of course nowadays they often form new words from African roots- chiefly from Swahili. Podagro is a new word from the Swahili word podagri, which means the vegetable sweet potato. Thus now we can use wither podagro or simply sweet potato.

iii).When one lives too richly and eats and drinks luxurious food finally one will suffer - probably on account of gout. The foot or possibly the hand swells and is very painful. The cause is crystals of uric acid in the veins. In English we name the illness gout. It is said that a diet of venison and port always causes gout.

b). Gisfero

Esperanto is a aglutinous language i.e. it forms words by means of the combination of different elements e.g. lernejestrino

lerni : to learn -ej- : place -estr- : chief -in- : female. And so chief of the place where one learns - headmistress.

i). gi/sfer/o

Obviously sfero is a sphere and gisfero is an imperfect sphere. The planet Jupiter rotates so quickly that it becomes flattened at the poles. It is an oblate spheroid or gisfero. Even the Earth has a diameter which is 26 miles greater at the Equator than at the Poles. It also is an oblate spheroid or gisfero.

ii).gis/fer/o

Fero is the metal iron and to manufacture it its ore is heated in a blast furnace, tapped off and then allowed to solidify in moulds. The process is casting and one makes cast iron or pig iron (gisfero)

iii).gisf/er/o

Ero is a small portion and the gisfo is a famous or infamous tropical fruit, the durian. Again we use the scientific name Gisfera indonesia. It is good tasting but has a terrible smell which is similar to blocked drains.

3). The Difference between Heaven and Hell

A man was ill and was in hospital. He was very sick and thought that soon he would die. He thought about life after death. He was tired and soon dozed off and began to dream.

During the dream he met and angel and said to it, "Please, what is the difference between Heaven and Hell?"

The angel smiled and replied, "Come with me. I will show you both places."

They arrived at a white door on which were the words "Heaven, Welcome"

They went in and the man marvelled when he saw a huge table, chock full with superb food and rink. "A very impressive banquet", he said. "But what about Hell?"

They came to another door and entered. The man was surprised when he saw absolutely the same situation- there was a large table filled with a feast.

The man said, "I do not understand." But the angel simple smiled and suggested that they meet the inhabitants.

In the room in Heaven the man immediately felt a pleasing atmosphere. The inhabitants smiled and chattered quietly. It was evident that they were happy and enjoying life. Everyone was very satisfied after a large meal.

In the room in Hell. however, the man looked at many grey unhappy figures. They complained loudly and struggled against each other. Everyone was very hungry and in fact seemed to be just skin and bones.

The man thought a little and then said, "Now I understand. In Heaven one is allowed to eat everything but in Hell one cannot eat, one can only look at the banquet. It is only an annoyance. What a punishment!"

The angel quickly replied, "Absolutely not! God would not treat even devils in that fashion. In both places one has the right to eat similarly. The only rule is that one eats with chop-poles (very large chopsticks).

The man however said, "Even the idiots in Hell can soon learn to use chopsticks, can't they?"

The angel smiled for a third time. "In fact, sir, you were not listening carefully to me. I said that one has to use chop-poles not chopsticks! He showed to the man a pair of chopsticks. They were 4-5 foot long!

"Hell! Oh, pardon me, Mr Angel! I meant to say ' What a Surprise' I do not understand how one can feed oneself with these implements. If one holds them in the hands then the other ends, the points between which the food is found, are too distant to put in the mouth!"

"Exactly", said the angel. " One cannot feed oneself with these tools. But the inhabitants of Heaven found that you can in fact feed your neighbour and the neighbour can feed you. The difference between Heaven and Hell is not the place but the men who live there."

5). The first Postage Stamps

Before 1840 when one sent a letter, the recipient had to pay and not the sender. Of course, often one did not wish to receive a letter e.g. if it contained a bill and so one did not pay. The post lost money. They had to carry the letter but did not receive payment.

During 1840 the postal authorities under their chief, Sir Rowland Hill decided that :

1). the sender will have to pay

2). the cost would be the same everywhere in Britain. The cost would depend on weight and not on distance. Previously to send a letter from London to Edinburgh or Dublin, when then was still part of the United Kingdom, was expensive

3). To show that postage had been paid one stuck a stamp onto the envelope.

Thus the first postage stamps in the world were born- a black stamp for one penny and a blue one for twopence. The so called Penny Black and Twopenny Blue.

Because they were the first postage stamps in the world it was not necessary to print on them the name of the country. Until today Britain is the only country in the world which does not print its name on its stamps.

In order that people should not reuse the stamps, the authorities franked them with a red cancellation in the form of a Maltese cross. However people then were similar to those of the present day. In order to save money they engaged in fraud- in fact they cleaned off the red frank and reused the stamp. After about six months the authorities decided to change the red Maltese cross to a black cross. That had carbon in the ink and this does not dissolve in any solvent whatsoever. Unfortunately it was not easy to see a black frank on a black stamp. So during 1841 the penny stamp was changed to a red stamp (the so called Penny Red). But the fraudsters would find two stamps- one with the cancellation at the top and the other with it at the bottom, cut both into two pieces and glue the clean pieces together and reuse them!

All of these stamps had letters in the bottom corners. The first row was AA, AB, AC etc. up to AL. The second BA, BB, BC etc. and the final TA, TB to TL. L is the 12th letter of the English alphabet, T the 20th and 20 times 12 is 240. Of course there were 240 old pence in a pound.

During 1864 the authorities issued new stamps with letters in all corners. For example AB below and BA above. Then in order to reuse stamps, a fraud would need to find two stamps- one with the frank only in the upper half of the stamp and the other with the cancellation in the lower half. Also they needed the same corner letters with the order at the top reversed to the lower. A very infrequent occurrence.

These stamps continued until 1880 and so many million were issued and only a few are now valuable. However one can make a very interesting collection from this beautiful postage stamps.

For anyone, who thinks that at the present time the world lacks fraudsters, it is interesting that during the last years (recent years) the post office issued the first postage stamp for £10. For protect it against fraud it uses special ink for the Queen's head, which seems to change its colour according to the direction in which it is viewed. Also the new stamp uses special coloured fibres in the paper, has oval holes in the middle of each row of perforations and for the blind, but also against fraudsters it has the value impressed in the Braille script.

S: Hello, madam. Can I help you?

C: Yes, I want to buy a present for my nephew who soon is having a birthday.

S: How old will he be?

C: Eleven.

S: Would he like a camera?

C: No- he already has one

S: Possibly he would enjoy a compact disc?

C: Oh, no! I don't think that his mother could stand the music...the row...not the cacophony to which he would wish to listen.

S: What do you think that he might like?

C: I don't know.

S: Does he play sport?

C: Definitely not! He is too timid to play any sport whatsoever!

S: Does he have a hobby?

C: Only one- he collects the registration numbers of aircraft.

S: Good- I have a huge book about that. It contains details of planes of every country in the world.

C: Certainly not! I do not approve of that hobby- it is a waste of time.

S: What do you approve of for him?

C: I'm not certain. In fact I don't know.

S: Possibly you could bring the boy here and then he could choose something himself.

C: Oh no! The present must be a surprise for him.

S: I have it! A book token.

C: Possibly he will not want to buy a book.

S: I suggest that you give him the money and then he will be able to spend it as he wishes.

C: Excellent! In fact I do not now need to stay here in your shop. Possibly he will buy elsewhere. Thank you, you have been very helpful.

S: Thank God! Cheerio, madam or, I hope, good riddance (final goodbye)