jueves, diciembre 13, 2007

Thursday's Trivia

As most people know, Thursday was named after the Germanic God - Thor. And no, before some smart-arse says he was a Norse God, Germanic covers all the Nordic lands - so there !!

Anyway, Thor was the God of THUNDER, and WAR and farming. Quite why he was the God of farming seems a bit of a mystery. I remember growing up in Wales that the 'young farmers' used to come down to the bright lights of the 'discotheque innit' every 2 weeks or so, and there was fighting indeed, but it wasn't really a war, more a pointless scuffle between mindless idiots.

I suppose being the God of farming might explain why his chariot was drawn by two goats - I mean only a farmer could come up with that idea. I remember a farmer friend of mine explaining how his father couldn't afford a guide dog so they gave him a guide rabbit instead.

"Had to take it back in the end though" he explained (in his very Welsh accent)
"Why was that?" I enquired, intrigued
"Cost too much to keep digging him out of the bloody holes"

Back to Thor though. He travelled around with a big hammer, called MJOLLNIR if you're interested, which he used to go around bonking people on the heads with. Apparently, his biggest enemies were the Frost Giants, all of whom he slayed by swinging his big 'un at them in a rather aggresive fashion.

Before he got to the last one though, some of the other Gods tried to help out the Frost Giant by fashioning a large clay giant called Mist Calf. Now personally, I would have assumed that becoming a God required some degree of intelligence. To me, clay versus hammer is only going to have one outcome but for some reason these Gods were too fucking stupid to figure it out. Unsurprisingly, when the clay giant (a huge version of Wallace, from Wallace and Gromit) appeared, Thor dutifully smashed the fuck out of it.

Thor would probably still be scooting around in his goat powered chariot now, were it not for his untrustworthy sidekick Loki. For Thor, his side kick was indeed bad Loki, and the cheeky little Fire God led Thor into a trap.

So, unfortunately, Thor got killed and the calendar was changed so that Thursday was named after him. It's probably a good thing really, as in the original Gregorian calendar, Thursday was initially named after Jupiter. Jupesday doesn't quite have the same ring to it really - especially when you consider what a Jupe is in French......

Well, that's my educational post done for another year ;-)

8 comentarios:

Anónimo dijo...

That's a load of shite, cos Gods can't be deaded! I know Thor is still around cos I saw him talking to John G in the pub at lunchtime!

How do I know that? His chariot was on the car-park, with the goats in the back.

Keith

Nature Girl dijo...

I'm so glad you cleared that up for me, I don't think I'd have been able to sleep tonite otherwise..
;)
Stacie

Unknown dijo...

Well there you go!! I really do learn something new every day. Considering I am having a bit of a fling at the moment with a man named Thor, I thought your post was rather apt.

Anónimo dijo...

Reminds me of the old gag: the god of thunder went back to a hooker he'd been with the week before and she refused service. He said "Why? You should be honoured, for I am Thor" and she replied "You're Thor? I couldn't pith for thix dayth". I'll get my coat...

SpanishGoth dijo...

Nice Old G -> if they can exist, they can be killed - are you sure you just didn't spot Farmer Barleymow?

Stacie -> education can be an eye opener (just think of sex education ;-)

(.)(.) -> aye, I read about your magic little box, a bit like Pandora's box but heavier on battery consumption

Tom -> I would say and oldie but goodie, but you can have the first bit for sure

Anónimo dijo...

I could be mistaken (I believe it may have happened once), but doesn't jupe mean skirt? I wouldn't mind a bit of skirt one day a week; that would be much more often than I'm getting it now.

Unknown dijo...

No, Goth, 'twas me. But I know fuck-all about any goats. ANYWAY.......You're mad!!

SpanishGoth dijo...

Lynx -> correct, jupe is skirt but I was thinking more of a mandatory skirt wearing day which would be ok if you were Scottish

JG -> I'm not mad at all - and I'm sure you didn't fuck any goats