Debby Detering Wordcraft

Debby's writing, book reviews, words to amuse or inspire.

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The Trapp Family Singers: Maria’s Story

01.17.2018 by Debby Detering // 1 Comment

Anyone who has enjoyed The Sound of Music is likely to enjoy the true story of the Trapp Family as told by Maria herself in The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.

Yes, the Captain did summon the children with a whistle.

No, he was not nearly the martinet portrayed in The Sound of Music.

It’s fun to read the biography, picking out the details used in the musical.  The rest of the story, after climbing over the mountains (not true) or supposedly taking a skiing vacation (true), continues with as much drama as the beginning, with laughter and tears.

Maria’s struggle with the language made me laugh so hard I couldn’t talk—and then cry because I wiped my eyes after slicing an onion.  I should have been getting dinner instead of reading.  When I could speak again, I read out loud for any family who were nearby, and it even drew a genuine out-loud laugh from a much-too-serious teenager.  Or maybe his funny-bone was tickled because Grandma looked crazy, laughing so hard.

In Maria Trapp’s words:

I invented a method all my own, in which I tried to apply what I had learned about one word to as many like-sounding words as I could find.  … for instance, I learned “freeze-frozen.”  I wrote underneath in my precious little notebook:  “squeeze-squozen” and “sneeze-snozen”.. When I admired the tall “hice” in New York, I got quite offended because they seemed to overlook the logical similarity between mouse-mice and house-hice.”

Maybe the funniest chapter in the book happens before the Nazis invaded Austria, when the Trapp family joined cousins for camping on an island, “Uncle Peter and His Handbook,” but you’ll have to read The Story of the Trapp Family Singers yourself.

Categories // Reading, Words Tags // biography

How many legs…?

08.30.2017 by Debby Detering // Leave a Comment

A college graduate tells me that what she remembers from a math class for non-majors (that is, math for students whose talents lie elsewhere) is a question her professor asked at the end of a quiz:

“How many legs does a cow have?”

Answer:  Six.  Two hind legs and forelegs in front.

By the way, they didn’t lose points for incorrect answers on that one.

Categories // Words Tags // humor

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Debby’s fiction explores family relationships with mingled conflict and caring and reflects her experience in emergency foster care, often for teenagers abandoned in one way or another.

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  • Wilderness Inquiry on the Missouri River
    How can we go into wilderness when we’ve never before sat in a canoe? Canoeing on the Missouri River?  With him over 70 years and me unable to get up from ground level without help? Yes—with Wilderness Inquiry. I once rowed a small skiff in a calm, protected bay off the Massachusetts coast. Skus and […]

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