Pleased as punch….

Now I’ve heard this. Ain’t got foggiest on the origin. Tuning into Sunday’s NFL games, announcer mentioned he was “pleased as punch” for some player who’d been thru struggles, overcame them, and is doing pretty darn good. Cool.

I guess punch is a pleasant thought. When I thinka punch, I thinka weddings… Big bowls, ladles… stuff that just don’t happen all that often. Tiny glasses.

If you dropped in from Mars, it might not make a lotta sense. “Here, you put on this $1000-plus white wedding dress… u guys run down the road to the Men’s Warehouse, forkout a couple hunnerd for some crap you’ll wear for six hours… and then you dudes and dudettes, sort thru that parta the closet you never sort thru, grab them finest duds… and we’ll all meet up around the punchbowl..” Makes sense to me. Get sloshed, ruin finery.

My grandmother, God bless her soul, I think I’ve mentioned her here before. To recap, her ole man (my g-pa) was a St. Louis Cardinals fanatic. Now the Cardinals are owned by Anheuser Busch.. Grandpa used tacks to hang the annual Cardinal schedule in the kitchen so he wouldn’t miss a game on his transistor… Grandma would cutout Billy Graham articles to paste over the pics of bottles of Bud that adorned the calendar. A “win-win” situation for them.

Well… one wedding. Some relative, can’t remember. Granny well into her 60’s by now. She’d grab some punch, then ’smore, and s’more.. And three or four more… “This is the BEST punch I’ve ever had.”… Seems onea the grooms frat brothers had spiked the punch, granny was ’half-lit’ for the first time in her life… and I don’t think we ever told her… Hehe. Fun.

What are you pleased as punch about?

Yes, as pattern has it, I will probably blab about what I’m pleased as punch about… I’m pleased we had Obama and Palin on the tickets this election. We still gotta ways to go, but we’re getting there.

I’m pleased as punch I have a job that I enjoy. I ain’t getting rich, but they give me independence (VERY important to me)… Also, in the stop-gap search to ’catch-up’, ie, “Victor needa part-time (2nd) job“, I’ve learned people out there don’t like old farts. Sad, but true. So I’m thankful for my employment.

Gotta friend who married a chap from Amsterdam. Been here now 30 yrs. I asked him the other night (he obviously likes it here) “what makes our country special?”.. “Well, you can move anywhere…” Yes, from Florida to Washington is around 3,000 miles… and you can’t just do that in Europe. Or China. Or Japan. Or Spain, England, Germany, etc, etc… we can start any kinda business we want… and we have ‘representatives” in our government who represent us. I love my country. I don’t always agree with everything that happens, but I’m pleased as punch to live here, and would not ever, live elsewhere.

And so… I’m a GD (gosh darn) Physical Education major for behoogety sakes. Whilst you were out studying up English Lit, Political Science, onomatopoeia, chit like that, I was studying the radius, ulna, how to beat a full court zone press, and the proper way to tape an ankle sprain.

I DIDN’T know the origin of pleased as punch.

Ok, mebbe u didn’t either. Hell, I see it a good thing we learn new chit as old farts…So here goes… mebbe we’ll learn together…

The puppet show Punch and Judy, had origin as far back as the 16th Century… Puppet Punch, with his candy-striped booth, hook nose… Punch proceeds to kill his infant child, then beat his wife Judy to death (so much for Punch and Judy… I mean what’s Siegfried without Toy? I mean Roy?).. He’s thrown into prison but escapes using a golden key. He then kills a policeman, a doctor, a lawyer, the handyman, death and the devil. He murders everyone with huge pleasure, each time squeakily repeating his catchphrase, “That’s the way to do it!”….

Thus, we have “pleased as Punch.” Hehe. Well, at least it was a damn puppet. (Victor, remind yourself to never start a blog about a saying without investigating the origin of it first… k?)… Ok.. Thanks, and I’m pleased as punch for the suggestion.

Since it was a puppet kinda thing… since it’s a “show” that’s survived time… I still think it’s ok to use the saying. I’m pleased as punch you’re here… May the week bring good things to you - but mainly I hopes it brings the realization that when shit happens… it will.. And that’s ok… we’ll “deep breath”… not blurt… remember to be thankful for all the good.. And carry on.

Thanks, for reading whilst I learned. Sorry I hadn’t researched ahead. (Long range planning for me is lunch tomorrow.) Love, Victurd.