"Auld Lang Syne"

[Jazzey]

HowStuffWorks "What does "Auld Lang Syne" mean?"

Popular New Year's Eve tune "Auld Lang Syne" has its roots in Scotland in the 18th century.
Actually, it?s not any of these. On New Year's Eve, the most common song for most English-speaking people to sing is "Auld Lang Syne." Isn't it funny how it's possible to sing and hear a song so many times and have no idea what it means? And wouldn't it be funny if it meant "Big Pink Elephants"?
A good sub-question is, what language is it?

It turns out that "Auld Lang Syne" is an extremely old Scottish song that was first written down in the 1700s. Robert Burns is the person whose transcription got the most attention, so the song is associated with him.

According to this page, a good translation of the words "auld lang syne" is "times gone by." So (incorporating a couple of other translations) when we sing this song, we are saying, "We'll drink a cup of kindness yet for times gone by."

 

[Daniel E.]

"We'll drink a cup of kindness yet for times gone by."

Cup of kindness? That doesn't sound tasty

 

[Jazzey]

- not quite the canned poutine is it?

 

[Daniel E.]

Right, and I would rather have expired egg nog than a virtual cup of sentiment

 

[Jazzey]

Right, and I would rather have expired egg nog than a virtual cup of sentiment

:funny:

I'm sitting here watching fireworks (my neighbours) - in the middle of a blizzard. Now that is a dose of determination! Might come in handy when I lose power too

 

[Daniel E.]

It's nice to see that some Canadians have the American spirit

 

[Jazzey]

I've taken a "few pages" out of your book Daniel and, according to Wikipedia, Canadians have "Chinese" spirit!

Fireworks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Daniel E.]

It's not New Years in China though, so I won't give you the brownie points

Maybe there is a consolation prize of mild admiration

 

[Jazzey]

...good, you haven't yet seen the section entitled "History: in the United States" - whew...I was getting ready to eat crow.

 

[Daniel E.]

You know I don't actually read the Wikipedia articles, especially when there are pictures

 

[Jazzey]

...too many Archie's in your youth?

 

[Daniel E.]

That was a good comic

 

[Jazzey]

Yes, it was

 

[Jazzey]

http://www.archiecomics.com/riverdale_high_school/3Dpapercrafts/personal_comic/PComicpage.pdf

...my little joke didn't work. But you get the gist of it

 

[Daniel E.]

Thanks, firstname

 

[Jazzey]

 

[NicNak]

Happy New Year in one minute in Ontario. Flordia doesn't have a New Year

:lol:

 

[Jazzey]

http://thearroyoseco.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/fireworks.jpg

Just celebrating the New Year.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I didn't even realize it was that late. I've been sleeping most of the day trying to get rid of this bug.

 

[Daniel E.]

http://thearroyoseco.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/fireworks.jpg

Just celebrating the New Year.

That looks a lot better than what happened at Times Square, which is very overrated for New Years, IMHO.