solstice, promissory note, staid Brits. American Pizazz Meets the Staid Traditions of Sumo

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

American Pizazz Meets the Staid Traditions of Sumo

At Madison Square Garden, New Yorkers got a rare look at an ancient Japanese sport, cheering and booing as though they were watching a Yankees game.

Winter. In the United States and the rest of the northern hemisphere, the first day of the winter season is the day of the year when the Sun is farthest south (on December 21^st or 22^nd). This day is known as the Winter Solstice.

The First Day of Winter - Calendar Updates

今天是冬至

希望你能開心慶祝這個時節，與至親一同分享溫暖的冬至湯圓。預祝來年光明似錦、繁茂昌盛！

Why will mornings still get darker after the Solstice?

Here's everything you need to know about the Winter Solstice

INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

Op-Ed Columnist
Libor's Dirty Laundry
By JOE NOCERA

The Brits are in an uproar over the rate-fixing scandal. What will it take to get the same response here?

There's an amusing contrast between the way the British and the French see the summer solstice. The staid Brits see it as "the longest day of the year," while the French call it "the shortest night of the year." Different people see the same thing differently, and I was reminded of this joke by a letter from a reader in response to my recent griping in this column about the unpleasantness of commuter trains.


Spotlight:

Lazy Summer Day

If it's June 21 in New York, is it June 21 in Australia? One answer is: much of the day. Because of the time zone difference, by 10AM in New York, it's already the next day in Australia. But, if you're really asking if the calendar is the same at the same time in both hemispheres, the answer is yes. While June 21 marks the beginning of summer in New York, it marks the beginning of winter in Australia. In the Northern Hemisphere, today is the summer solstice — the time when the North Pole is tilted toward the Sun. In the Northern Hemisphere, it's the longest day of the year. Some countries celebrate Midsummer Day with music, dancing and bonfires on this date (some celebrate it on June 24). Of course, all of this is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere, where this date marks the winter solstice, and the shortest day of the year.

Quote:
"Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January." — Hal Borland



 staid
(stād)
adj.

1. Characterized by sedate dignity and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; sober. See synonyms at serious.
2. Fixed; permanent: "There is nothing settled, nothing staid in this universe" (Virginia Woolf).

[From obsolete staid, past participle of STAY¹ .]

staidly staid'ly adv.
staidness staid'ness n.

[形]〈人・風采(ふうさい)・態度などが〉生真面目な, 旧弊な, 退屈な

a staid color
じみな色.

━━[動]((古))stay¹の過去・過去分詞形.

staid・ness

[名]

Brit[Brit]

• 発音記号[brít]

((略式・主に軽蔑))[名]英国人.
solstice

• [sɑ'lstis | sɔ'l-]

[名]

1 《天文》至(し)；（夏至・冬至の）至点.

2 絶頂点, 分岐点, 極点；重大局面.

sol|stice

Pronunciation: /ˈsɒlstɪs

  

/

Definition of solstice in English:

NOUN

Either of the two times in the year, the summer solstice and the winter solstice, when the sunreaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon, marked by the longest and shortest days.

EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Origin

Middle English: from Old French, from Latin solstitium, from sol 'sun' + stit- 'stopped, stationary' (from the verbsistere).