Q: My mother says I dress and act like a fool?  I have heard this word used before, but think that it means something entirely different meaning.  What is the origin of the word and its true meaning?

A: Well, reader, you sure posted a stumper. After searching where the phrase “act a fool” comes from for days and days, I finally had to enlist the help of other area librarians to see what we could find. It seems 15 or 20 heads truly are better than 1. Here’s what we found out:

The phrase “play the fool”, has been around for a very long time. In the King James version of the Bible (Samuel 26:21) Saul says, “I have sinned…Behold, I have played the fool and have committed serious error.”

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the phrase’s earliest recording was in 1532 by Frenchman Giles Du Wes. By 1659, an English member of Parliament, was recording in his diary, “I staid up a little while, playing the fool with the lass of the house.”

While the original meaning of “fool” was a senseless or stupid person, by the time “play the fool” came into use, to be called a fool meant that you were more of a jester or a clown. So to play the fool means “to act the part of a fool or a jester”. This might be familiar to you if you’ve ever read Shakespeare, where many “fools” appeared as a way to bring humor to the play.

But that’s not where this little phrase stopped. Even today in modern culture, we hear people say someone is “acting a fool”. Urbandictionary.com defines “act a fool” as “to stop acting rationally and start acting foolishly; to go nuts”.

It’s used in urban culture to describe going “crazy”, or having an insane amount of fun. And “act a fool” is present in the lyrics of many hip hop and rap songs. The popular musician, Prince, used it in his song “The Bird” in 1983:

“Brothers, don’t be cool,

Women like it sometimes when U act a fool”

“Act A Fool” is even the title of  hip hop songs by the artists, Ludacris and Lil Jon. Both songs use the phrase “act a fool” to describe getting crazy and partying (ex: “Act a fool til they cut the lights and we still ain’t goin’ home”).

The mystery still lies in how “play the fool” in 1592 became the “act a fool” in 2010. But we hope this helps explain the meaning of the phrase. Chances are, when your mother says you’re acting a fool, she doesn’t mean you’re a simpleton-she thinks you’re funny!

Q: Why do we carve pumpkins for Halloween?

A: The origin of carving pumpkins is thought have started long ago in Ireland. We found this answer in the book Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne:

“Irish villagers once found their way through the dark of late autumn by the light of a lantern made from a turnip or beet. As time went on, groups of Halloween revelers carried these lanterns on their annual visits from house to house. In some places, they represented goblins freed from the dead.”

My the time this practice made it to America, it had changed a bit. In the early days of American life, townspeople would carve letters of the alphabet into pumpkins. Then “fortune-seekers” would be blindfolded and led to a row of pumpkins. Whichever letters they touched were supposed to predict the first letters of their true loves’ name. During this same time, Americans started serving roasted pumpkin seeds from inside the great orange squash.

Today, all across the world, we still carve pumpkins and turnips during this spooky time of year!

A: This is a great question and something that many readers wonder about when they read the classic novel of love, religion, and social class: Jane Eyre.

It would seem like Jane Eyre is a real person because the original title of the book is Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. The definition of an autobiography is a book that someone writes about their own life. However, this book is not an autobiography because Jane Eyre never really existed. The real author, Charlotte Bronte, imagined her character and then wrote an “autobiography” as if she was that character. To be really truthful, Ms. Bronte would have had to name the book Jane Eyre: An Autobiography…But Not Really.

It’s interesting that the author chose this format for the book because many have talked about how similar the lives of the imagined Jane Eyre and the real Charlotte Bronte were. It is widely believed that, although they did have differences, Jane’s life in the novel was based on Charlotte’s real life experiences.

For instance, Charlotte had an awful boarding school experience much like Jane does in the beginning of the book. One of Jane’s school friends, Helen Burns, dies of consumption, just like two of Charlotte’s sisters (Elizabeth and Maria) died during Charlotte’s time in school. The home that the Eyre family lives in is said to be based on a real house in North Lees Hall in Northern England. And Ms. Bronte also became a governess, just like Jane Eyre does in the book.

In the end, the answer to the question “Was Jane Eyre real?” isn’t as easy as yes or no. Jane Eyre was a combination of Charlotte Bronte’s own life and of her imagination.

To read more about Charlotte Bronte, you can pick up The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell, who was a close friend of the Bronte family. Search for it at a library near you by visiting our online catalog.

A Case of the Mondays, our childrens’ story time, is still going on at JFK Jr. Library! This week, September 13, we’ll be reading The Berenstain Bears and the Ghost of the Forest! After the story, stick around to play with felt forest creatures and read campfire poems!

Off go the bear scouts

To camp out all night

Will an unwelcome ghost

Visit their site?

The following week (Sept. 20), we’ll read the great Ray Bradbury’s first children’s book:  Switch on the Night. Hope to see you there!

If you really want to get off of the couch this week and enjoy the outdoors before the snow flies, you can go to letsmove.gov and check out how to get active and have fun, be physically fit, and stay healthy!

A: Many people have wondered the answer to this question throughout time. What’s funny is that the answer to the question “What is beautiful?” isn’t always the same.

Did you know that pockmarks (marks on the skin) were attractive in the Middle Ages because people thought it meant you had survived the Plague? Or that in the 15th century when there wasn’t much food to go around, being overweight was attractive? So say the doctors Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz, who wrote You Being Beautiful: The Owner’s Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty.

There are a lot of ways people can be attractive. Many scientists believe that people with symmetrical faces are considered more attractive.

Others report that people are attracted to the different scents that humans give off naturally. Still others say that men and women are attracted to people that look similar to the way they look (ever notice how couples kind of look alike?).

So who do we believe? What’s a girl (or boy) to do to become attractive? One thing everyone can agree on is that confidence and happiness make us attractive people. People that are confident and happy with themselves are not only considered better looking, but they are also more likely to get hired for jobs and are perceived to be better at communicating with others. Women’s Health reported that smiling and looking someone in the eye when you’re talking to them, two signs of confidence, increase your attractiveness. Confidence and feeling attractive actually equals being attractive.

So take it from Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen: The more attractive you feel: “the happier you are. And the happier you are, the more beautiful you look and feel…and that’s a beautiful thing.”

Where we got our info (available at the library!):

• You Being Beautiful: The Owner’s Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty by Michael F. Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.
• “Looking Straight at People and Smiling Increases Your Attractiveness” by Paige Greenfield, Women’s Health Magazine April 2008, page 28

Calling all 4 to 6 year olds (and your parents, of course!). JFK Jr. Library has a “mysterious” new story time. A Case of the Mondays will take place most every Monday from 2-2:30 PM. We’ll read a picture book with a little mystery and then do an activity!

This Monday, August 9, we’ll be reading Detective Small in the Amazing Banana Caper and using our imaginations to draw what we can see through a detective’s magnifying glass!

Here’s the schedule for this month, remember it’s always on Mondays!:

• August 9: Detective Small in the Amazing Banana Caper, 2 PM
• August 16: Miss Nelson is Missing, 2 PM
• August 23: NO STORY TIME
• August 30: The Web Files, 2 PM
• September 6: NO STORY TIME

Wednesday, July 29 @ 3 PM at JFK, Jr.

We’ll be welcoming back the students from the Japanese Shotokan Karate-Do Association. There will be a number of demonstrations AND hands-on practice! Plus it’s for all ages! Come on over!

Q: Does the library have music?

A: Yes! JFK Jr. Library has music available on CD. You can take home up to 5 CDs for one week at a time. Now, if Mungo Jerry up there got you thinking about some summertime music, we’ve got that too! Summer is a great time to listen to tunes, new or old, while you play at the beach, take a road trip, grill out in your backyard or even (sigh) work. Here’s a list of just a few of the CDs and songs that put us in a summertime mood. And be sure to check out our “Summer Music” display next time you come in. You can grab CDs and even a book about your favorite music artist!

Summertime Tunes:

• Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night, Play it Twice: “Kentucky Woman”
• Gwen Stefani’s The Sweet Escape, Play it Twice: “Wind it Up”
• Sam Cooke’s Greatest Hits, Play it Twice: “Having a Party”
• Fleetwood Mac’s The Dance, Play it Twice: “Landslide”
• Taylor Swift’s Taylor Swift, Play it Twice: “Tim McGraw”
• Regina Spektor’s  Begin to Hope, Play it Twice: “Summer in the City”
• MGMT’s Congratulations, Play it Twice: “Flash Delirium”

Hmmm…Quite the stumper. Since we don’t write q’s terribly often (only 934 English words begin with q!), it’s easy to forget how to write one in cursive. The book “Cursive Writing Made Easy & Fun” by Kama Einhorn reminds us that a capital cursive Q is often called a “backward balloon” because of it’s round, right-to-left and downhill beginning. In my opinion, it looks an awful lot like the number 2:

So now you know! Have fun practicing! Can’t get enough of the letter Q? Check out this list of weird q-words. Hope your day is full of quiddities and without querimonies.

Signed,

A Questmonger