Faith and Begoraah, to you as St. Patrick’s Day awaits ’round
the corner. What’s faith and begorrah anyway? Well, here’s the best
explanation I’ve found. Faith was used to precede some strong
assertion and would have translated like,
”
By my faith
…
”
and Begorrah probably originated because folks were reluctant to
use the Lord’s name, so
”
By God
…
”
became
”
by Gor
…
”
from which
”
Be Gor
”
sprang
…
Faith and Begoraah, to you as St. Patrick’s Day awaits ’round the corner. What’s faith and begorrah anyway? Well, here’s the best explanation I’ve found. Faith was used to precede some strong assertion and would have translated like, “By my faith …” and Begorrah probably originated because folks were reluctant to use the Lord’s name, so “By God …” became “by Gor …” from which “Be Gor” sprang …
So, “Be Gor” while St. Patrick’s Day is usually March 17, this year it’s been changed to Saturday, March 15 by decree emanating from the Roman Catholic Church to avoid conflict with Holy Monday. A perfect way to, er, party a wee bit before Holy Week is to raise a glass and enjoy some corned beef and cabbage at the annual St. Joseph’s Family Center St. Patrick’s Day Dinner on Saturday at the St. Mary’s Parish Auditorium, 7950 Church St. Bar opens at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. and the $25 fee goes to help the poor. A few tickets may be available at the door.
In bygone Gilroy Days, apparently Fred O’Wood and his buddy Vince Maloney hosted this dinner at the O’Wood home until it grew too big. And Steve Valencia, former principal at Brownell, used to croon away with a sweet rendition of Danny Boy as the crowd gathered around the piano. That’s a memory sweet as a light Irish rain. O’Really … For the record, Mr. Wood’s middle initial is indeed O …
From the soft Emerald Isle to the hard Azores … Kathie Baker writes:
Dear Mark,
You wrote ruefully, “Bet the water fountains work in the Azores …”
Um, have you ever been to the Azores? On my first visit there I dragged my sorry derrière all the way up Rua do Galo from the large central plaza (Praça Velha) in downtown Angra do HeroÃsmo, Terceira, one warm muggy afternoon – up to the plateau at the top of a very sizable steep hill, in hopes of obtaining a family record at a government building – only to discover there was no water fountain (operative or otherwise) in said building …
Well, now we can ad this to Mayor Al’s laundry list. No more trips until it’s fixed.
Fixing is what isn’t getting done every time a contractor tears up the streets of Gilroy. And that’s been plenty in the last few years. It’s a sad state when your vehicle rumbles over the pipeline dips in the road left to sink by a contractor getting away on the cheap. Gilroy should set tough standards for repairing roads post construction and make sure those rules are adhered to.
Rumbling down the dippy Gilroy road, we spotted this on the back of a truck: “We’re No. 1 in the No. 2 business” …. thanks to Tarin Septic in San Martin for the smile of the day.
Gilroy’s traffic officers aren’t putting smiles on the faces of some Santa Teresa Motor Speedway drivers. The GPD motorcycle is out again, at long last, catching speed demons. Would love to see them nail a bunch of racing motorcycle zealots, too, who speed and pop incredibly stupid wheelies. And a word to our traffic officers, please be careful making those U-turns on Santa Teresa to catch those speeding turkeys, er … turkeys speeding.
Turkey it turns out is a strong second fiddle in the legend of the Pirozzoli family bakery. Thanks to Chris Ordaz and a few others who have been around the block for the reminder that the “magic” oven also delivered many a fine Thanksgiving bird. Meanwhile, Micki Pirozolli emphatically stated one afternoon that her husband has the secret bread recipe and that a warm loaf may even make a surprise appearance soon.
It’s no surprise any longer (whew!) that Mrs. Jenny Derry received a surprise 40th. Thanks to all those family members and friends with tight lips, and a special thanks to Carlo Fortino who has built a wonderful new venue – La Vigna – out at Hecker Pass Winery and to Dave Bozzo for the smokin’ good food. Wine, food, family and friends made it all special.
Special additions to the Marge and John Albaugh clan arrived not too long ago, and the smile on Marge’s face at the Looking Good Salon put an exclamation point on the family joy. The twins names are Addie and Izzy, aka Addison Jennifer Vegh and Isabella Kristine Vegh. Mommy and daddy are Stephanie and Frank Vegh and proud grandparents are J. Chris and Larry Mickhartz. Now that’s cute.
