James Baquet

    When I was a kid, my dad’s oldest sister served as a sort of grandma to us (as my dad’s mother having already passed). Aunt Til was quite an interesting lady. Never married, she was a working woman who had made herself financially independent, and was happy to spend long hours by herself, saying “I’m my own best company!”

    She had lots of funny, old-fashioned expressions, being almost 15 years older than my dad and having grown up in New Orleans before the family migrated to L.A., where my dad was born. One of her expressions sticks in my mind. Whenever we would do something cute, she would say, “You’re such a character!”

    This confused me. I knew Mickey Mouse was a character, and so was Superman. How could I be a character?

    It turns out that this word describes an “odd, eccentric, or unusual person.” Maybe spelled out, we could say, “You have such an unusual character,” where “character” means “the features and traits that form a person’s nature.”

    History is full of “characters.” In China, Ji Gong (Daoji) comes to mind, as do some of the other Zen teachers.

    But in America, our “characters” were often showmen. One who comes to mind was Phineas Taylor “P. T.” Barnum (1810-1891). Barnum made an excellent living with his flamboyant personality and clever schemes.

    One example of his ruses is the so-called “Feejee (Fiji) Mermaid,” which was actually the torso and head of a monkey sewed onto the lower part of a fish. Barnum leased it from its owner and promoted it through an elaborate process, what today we might call a “whisper campaign.”

    Another of Barnum’s schemes was the promotion of “General Tom Thumb,” an actual dwarf who at 5 and just over two feet tall was taught by Barnum to sing, dance, and do impersonations. Though he lived to be 45 years old, he never grew taller than 3 feet 4 inches (about 1 meter). In his career he performed twice before Queen Victoria, and was received at the White House by Abraham Lincoln. Becoming wealthy, he later bailed out his benefactor when Barnum experienced financial difficulties.

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. relating to money

    2. distinguishing characteristics or qualities

    3. moved from one place to another

    4. tricks

    5. complicated, worked out in detail

    6. one who brings benefits

    7. dashing, colorful

    8. acts of mimicking a voice or gesture

    9. outside of the ordinary

    10. saved, provided financial assistance to