Halloween Musings

[a moment closer]

At this time of year, at least where I live, owls begin calling. The fact that ornithology tells us that they're just soliciting a booty call in no way diminishes the idea that their song heralds Sammhain.

lol! I love this... I'm going to use it the next time owls come up in conversation. As they do.

[a moment closer]

I say it as Hal, not as Hall but I grew up with it being said as Hall. Once I learned about All Hallow's Eve, more than 25 years ago now, I started pronouncing it that way.

[Riv86672]

In 2010, a few years before i retired from the Army, my Company had arranged for some Medics to come down one morning and administer our mandatory flu shots. I’d been at this Company about a year at the time and they were used to my...eccentricities, so, I decided to give them all a laugh.

I borrowed my middle child’s costume from the previous year, which had been a huge hit in our neighborhood, and drove to work dressed up. I parked, ran over to the entrance of our Company bay, where everyone was inside, and burst in, maracas shaking, shouting at full volume, doing this...:

Iiiit’s peanut butter jelly time,
peanut butter jelly time,
peanut butter-jelly-peanut butter jelly-peanut butter-jelly
with a baseball bat!

Partway through my performance i realized the bay seemed a lot fuller than it should have been.

Turns out someone had gotten the idea to invite our Battalion personnel (who i did NOT work closely w. and who were most definitely NOT used to my eccentricities) to receive flu shots as well.

So there i am in front of the Battalion’s Lieutenant Colonel, his XO a Major, the Command Sergeant Major, and about a dozen more Senior Officers and NCOs. I figured stopping was not an option at that point so i finished w. a flourish, shouted “Happy Halloween everyone!” And went right back out the door.

[DrNewGod]

In 2010, a few years before i retired from the Army, my Company had arranged for some Medics to come down one morning and administer our mandatory flu shots. I’d been at this Company about a year at the time and they were used to my...eccentricities, so, I decided to give them all a laugh.

I borrowed my middle child’s costume from the previous year, which had been a huge hit in our neighborhood, and drove to work dressed up. I parked, ran over to the entrance of our Company bay, where everyone was inside, and burst in, maracas shaking, shouting at full volume, doing this...:

Iiiit’s peanut butter jelly time,
peanut butter jelly time,
peanut butter-jelly-peanut butter jelly-peanut butter-jelly
with a baseball bat!

Partway through my performance i realized the bay seemed a lot fuller than it should have been.

Turns out someone had gotten the idea to invite our Battalion personnel (who i did NOT work closely w. and who were most definitely NOT used to my eccentricities) to receive flu shots as well.

So there i am in front of the Battalion’s Lieutenant Colonel, his XO a Major, the Command Sergeant Major, and about a dozen more Senior Officers and NCOs. I figured stopping was not an option at that point so i finished w. a flourish, shouted “Happy Halloween everyone!” And went right back out the door.

LOL!!! I get a very vivid image of what the CSM's face must have looked like as he calculated whether there were too many witnesses present to deal with it properly.

[Riv86672]

LOL!!! I get a very vivid image of what the CSM's face must have looked like as he calculated whether there were too many witnesses present to deal with it properly.

LOL! You nailed exactly who had the most negative reaction to it!

The next year i moved up to the Battalion level and he was on me from day one. Come to find out later it was specifically because of that stunt.

[Tien Long]

I say it as Hal, not as Hall but I grew up with it being said as Hall. Once I learned about All Hallow's Eve, more than 25 years ago now, I started pronouncing it that way.

Ha, cool bro. Nice to know not the only one.

[Anodyne]

Just wondering, how do you pronounce "Halloween?" For me, I always pronounced the "Hl-" portion as, well, the word "hall." Y'know, like in the sentence "He ran down the hall."

A couple of years ago, I noticed people say that "Hall-" portion as "hal" like the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. No doubt, I understand where it comes from, "All Hallow's Eve," and such. But still, I'm tethered to my way and am not that inclined to change it soon.

In any case, how do you pronounce "Halloween?" Is my way a NY/NJ thing, or I'm just the only one who says it like that?

My "Halloween" rhymes with "Shallow Queen." I may have thought it was "Holloween" when I was a child.

I've never had a single trick-or-treater since I moved to an apartment in Boston way back in 1978. If I buy candy, I have to (okay, get to ) eat it all.

My most troubling memory is of Halloween in my parents' house while they were away. Kids came to the door, but NOT ONE CHILD said "Trick or treat!" They just stood there silently. I felt as if they didn't know Halloween was supposed to be fun.