Welcome George!
Welcome George!
Aug 06
Welcome George, son of William and Katherine, Grandson of Charles (more or less with Camilla) and Princess Diana, Great grandson of Queen Elizabeth and the Prince Consort, Philip, the newest member of the House of Windsor. George will almost certainly one day be king of England, or more officially, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith. Wow, that’s quite a title for an 8 pound, 6 ounce newborn.
So since George is likely to be one day king, let’s remember that before him are Grandpa Charles and Daddy William, not to mention that Grandmama Elizabeth has to kick off first, he now joins the “family business”. What’s involved in being a part of the family business of kinging (or queening)? As his Great, Great, Great Grandpapa, George V, once said, it used to simply involve looking good in a uniform. That still seems to be part of the job description, but a bigger part seems to be The Wave. This is so much a part of the job that when a doll was made of the queen, she is wearing a crown, holding her usual pocketbook, and, you guessed it, waving. George is so ready that it is believed that the first time he was paraded in front of photographers he reached his hand out from the swaddling and waved!
That leads quite nicely into the second major part of the job description, contending with the Paparazzi. You all know what paparazzi are, but the definition in Wikipedia is “photographers who take pictures of athletes, celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people usually while they are going about normal life routines. Paparazzi tend to be independent contractors, unaffiliated with any mainstream media organization and pictures are usually done opportunistically.” But did you ever wonder why they’re called paparazzi?
Is paparazzi derived from Latin, say papar, or to have flashbulbs (I’m showing my age) go off in your face? NO. Does it come from old English, say razzi, which means to be incredibly annoying? NO. Actually, paparazzi is a made up name (actually, Paparazzo), not even a word, from that great Italian movie director, Federico Fellini. As the story line of La Dolce Vita revolves around a journalist and movie stars, it is just to be expected that there would be photographers buzzing (notice the word) around trying to get pictures to sell to the press. Fellini actually names one of these photographers Paparazzo so that it would sound like the buzzing of annoying mosquitoes. Go figure, it stuck! Today you can use the word paparazzi in almost any country around the world and everyone knows who, or what, you mean.
