Why Look! There's the Little Dipper....

[michaelboy]

When I was little, in the night sky, I would often catch a wondering glimpse of the Constellation Orion. I didn't know it was named Orion and, in fact, I had thought the three belt stars were the bottom of the upside down cup of the Little Dipper. Coupled with the Orion Nebulae (M42) as a handle, it suited my purposes just fine.

So please accept my apologies Mintaka, Alnilam, Alnitak, and M42.


These earthly godfathers of Heaven's lights, that give a name to every fixed star,
have no more profit of their shining nights than those that walk and know not what they are.
~ William Shakespeare

There is something that leads us out of innocence, that we all seem to resist. Even though growing up isn't so bad, it isn't always so easy either.

Comments

learning and unlearning and learning again

[wayfaringwordhack]

Funnily enough, my mom taught me that Orion was the Little Dipper; and I still remember standing outside with her and some man one night, and he corrected her/us when I was about 6. It still makes me smile when I look at Orion.

That also reminds me of another "error," that I shall blame on regionalisms. My grandmother had a mimosa tree outside her bedroom window, and the smell was so faint but so delightful. It always takes me back to her.

Anyhow, many years ago, my mother-in-law took me to task when I said, "No, that yellow-flowered tree is NOT a mimosa; mimosa trees have beautiful pink tuft-like flowers that smell divine." Turns out she was right (for France), but then, I was correct, too, when you go to the taxonomy.

Only I didn't know that back when she treated me like I had been taught a falsehood. Others (not just my grandma) call silk trees "mimosas," as I found out just last week when another person from Texas posted on my art forum to say he had painted his mimosa tree, and it was just like my grandmother's. :) Google showed me that many people DO call the Persian silk tree a "mimosa;" but back in the day, the Internet wasn't so accessible to vindicate me and show that both me and my mother-in-law were right. :P

This message has gotten so long--and is probably uninteresting for anyone outside my own head--but it made me think about HOW we correct one another ( I don't mind being corrected when it isn't a case of "one-upmanship;" I embrace being a life-long learner) or how we can hold our "knowledge" a little more loosely.

Re: learning and unlearning and learning again

[michaelboy]

I like that I shared the false truth about Orion with your mother.

At times such false-truthoods aren't such a bad thing afterall - when they are well-intentioned and especially when they engender such fond memories. :)