Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Vernacular Vocabulary of Vesticulated Variegated Vessels



ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. This fabulous meme was created and hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt who hails from Great Britain. Over time, others have joined in to help host this wonderful and informative meme. We are now in our NINTH round! Some of the participants have been with this from the very first round; others have joined in along the way. Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture. We start with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "V".


VOLLEYBALL


Did you know that when the game of volleyball was conceived it was called Mintonette?


Says Wikipedia:
"On February 9, 1895, in Holyoke, Massachusetts (USA), William G. Morgan, a YMCA physical education director, created a new game called Mintonette as a pastime to be played preferably indoors and by any number of players. The game took some of its characteristics from tennis and handball. Another indoor sport, basketball, was catching on in the area, having been invented just ten miles (sixteen kilometers) away in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, only four years before. Mintonette was designed to be an indoor sport less rough than basketball for older members of the YMCA, while still requiring a bit of athletic effort.
The first rules, written down by William G Morgan, called for a net 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) high, a 25×50 ft (7.6×15.2 m) court, and any number of players. A match was composed of nine innings with three serves for each team in each inning, and no limit to the number of ball contacts for each team before sending the ball to the opponents’ court. In case of a serving error, a second try was allowed. Hitting the ball into the net was considered a foul (with loss of the point or a side-out)—except in the case of the first-try serve.
After an observer, Alfred Halstead, noticed the volleying nature of the game at its first exhibition match in 1896, played at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfield College), the game quickly became known as volleyball (it was originally spelled as two words: "volley ball"). Volleyball rules were slightly modified by the International YMCA Training School and the game spread around the country to various YMCAs."

When I lived in San Diego (in my 20's) I used to go to the beach nearly every weekend during the warm summer months (South Mission Beach if anyone is interested) and spend all day Saturday and all day Sunday playing volley ball in a sand court. Really hard to do since the sand does not give back. My legs got really strong! It was a lot of fun as most of us were volleyball 'regulars'. Occasionally we would be short a team member and recruit a random stranger from the boardwalk.

Let's not forget the volley ball that kept Tom Hanks company when he was stranded on a desert island for years in the movie, "Cast Away". Great dialogue between Tom and the V-ball!   : )

VACUUM


Ahem.....we will refrain from making jokes about how a vacuum really sucks, OK? This image is from the same series that I did with my cell phone back in Jan. when I took my son to the ER for an arm contusion. Cheap entertainment, you know! It's become quite the habit for me now, whenever I'm in a medical exam room. They just have too many things in those rooms that are too good to pass up!


VARIEGATION


Saw this up at the Plaza in Santa Fe a few months back-pretty how this particular corn is variegated. If someone were to do a painting of that corn being that color, one would think it was totally made up!


Very Visit


 (taken right outside the VLA visitor center in NM)

Yes, I would like to thank you VERY much for your VISIT today!

16 comments:

photowannabe said...

Paula, you always come up with the most interesting posts for ABC. I didn't know any of the history of Volleyball. Great photos too. Have a great week.

Hildred said...

Wonderful choices for V, Paula - I especially like your heading...

MaR said...

Great finds for V, particularly that piece of corn!! never seen that before.

V is for verdigris

Joe's Pasta House said...

You a very clever, talented woman my friend.

Roger Owen Green said...

The history of volleyball and basketball are very similar - Massachusetts YMCAs!

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

rebecca said...

hey wait a minute, isn't V for virgin??

ok i could not resist!
in gratitude for our days of mary i have posted my gratitude to you and all today at recuerda mi corazon with a special invitation.
warmly,
rebecca

Gigi Ann said...

Nice history about Volley ball this week. What a Variety of Vs you found for V day.

Kate said...

You are a true educator. Great information and excellent variety.

Chubskulit Rose said...

Wow those are some very interesting words!

Please come and see the Voyage of the Mermaid. Happy holidays!

Gattina said...

A real variety of V words !

Oakland Daily Photo said...

The corn is fascinating. Who knew?

Kay L. Davies said...

Aha, very interesting post, colorfully corny and all that, but did you know the inventor of basketball whom you mentioned (yes, he did it in Springfield, Mass.) was a Canadian?
http://www.nba.com/canada/History_of_Basketball_in_Canad-Canada_Generic_Article-18023.html
Meanwhile, I admire anyone who ever played beach volleyball. I always had trouble walking in sand, never mind doing anything athletic in it, even when I was young.

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

Joy said...

Love the variegated corn, so pretty, I am now trying to imagine a field dazzling in the sunshine.
Interesting Volleyball history. I used to play too (long time ago) but as it was a winter league definitely indoors.

Reader Wil said...

Congratulations, Paula! you did it again! A lot of beautiful V words!
Have a great week!

Tumblewords: said...

Still laughing. It took me about 12 minutes to read the title of your post. I love that the vacuum doesn't need pushed and emptied (apparently). It's truly hard to believe corn can be that variegated and still be corn. Wonder if it pops. Never mind. :)

Anonymous said...

thanks for the trivia lesson on volleyball!!

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin