Deedy.com Blog

Look up Deedy in Websters Dictionary and you will see the following definition - \Deed"y\, a. Industrious; active. [R.] --Cowper. But to me Deedy is simply my last name and not a very common one at that. My Father always said "find yourself in a strange city? Open a phone book, find a Deedy and give them a call - chances are they are a relative." So, for all the Deedy's out there hello and welcome.


Found another Deedy on the information super highway...

I was cruising around and found this website by Tom Deedy. Looks like Tom has been very Deedy indeed with his film career :)

Speedy Deedy - wanna bet?

It has recently been brought to my attention that a horse by the name of Speedy Deedy has been racing professionaly. I wonder how you find out when a horse will appear at a particular track?

Searching for other Deedy blogs

While searching for other Deedy blogs I ran across this one by Katie Deedy in New York. Since the Deedy clan is spread around quite a bit now I, at first, was not sure if I could identify this particular Deedy. But after seeing this little snippet I finally figured out who this one must be...

The only reason I was born is because my mom and dad both worked at Davidson's (aka: Macy's) in the late 70's. Mom worked at the make-up counter, and dad worked in accounting, Every day he would visit her at lunch and ask her out, and every day she would say no. Finally, one afternoon after my dad had gotten his wisdom teeth taken out, he stopped by my mom's counter and asked her again. She felt so bad for him and his swollen face, she said yes. And so: ultimately we have my dad's teeth to thank. Right? Kinda. Unless you go further back to my family in Cuba. Had the First Baptist Church of Decatur not taken my mother, aunt and grandparents in in 1963, then my mother would never have lived in GA, but most likely Miami. If my grandfather hadn't worked in the black market and Cuban Underground against Fidel, my family wouldn't have needed to leave so quickly. If Fidel had never risen to power, my family would have probably never left Cuba.

Katie must be one of Sean and Carmen's daughters (Sean is my cousin - son of my uncle Justin). Always good to know you can find a Deedy on the information superhighway.

Deedy in sign language



I learned some American sign language in 1st grade and still remember how to sign the alphabet. Here is Deedy in sign language - enjoy!

Musing on the use of deedy in the English language

Deedy is not a word you hear everyday, but it does pop up every now and then. I was reading a book the other day and came across this sentence... No progress was made by their deedy labours.

I recall the first time I saw the use of deedy as a word rather than a name. I was reading Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy and came across this passage:

“Ah!” said his aunt, suspending her breath. And she opened upon him a lecture on how she would now have him all the spring upon her hands doing nothing. “If you can’t skeer birds, what can ye do? There! don’t ye look so deedy! Farmer Troutham is not so much better than myself, come to that. But ’tis as Job said, ‘Now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.’ His father was my father’s journeyman, anyhow, and I must have been a fool to let ‘ee go to work for ‘n, which I shouldn’t ha’ done but to keep ‘ee out of mischty.”

Thomas Hardy liked to use the word deedy - here is another example from The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid.

Instead of a Baron there stood Jim, white-waistcoated, demure, every hair in place, and, if she mistook not, even a deedy spark in his eye.

Deedy is always used as an adjective and is almost always positive. It causes me to wonder which was first the name or the word? Did the individual with the name define the word? I guess we will never really know. Here is one last example of deedy used in a sentence...

National Review; 12/31/2004; Derbyshire, John

THE novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett, asked by the London Times to give a brief account of her life, replied: "There's not much to say. I haven't been at all deedy."

Deedy! This is one of those words that, once you have seen them, make you wonder why they aren't in everyday use. The job interviewer, going through a pile of submitted resumes: "This one's all right, but ... no, not deedy enough." The biographer or obituarist: "The next few years were his deediest ..." The self-improvement guru: "Deediness depends on a positive attitude!" The psychiatrist's patient: "I married George because he seemed so deedy, but ..."

Are there any famous Deedy's?

I would not say that there are any "famous" Deedy's, however there are notable Deedy's. One such notable is Carmen Agra Deedy who is a children's book author and occasional NPR contributor. She is the ex-wife of one of my many, many, many cousins in the South East U.S.

Another notable (as well as another author) is my Uncle Jack or John G. Deedy, Jr. My favorite book of his is "Your Aging Parents" about how many of the middle aged find themselves caring for those who cared for them. This book is really about my Uncle Jack and my Grandparents, but also deals well with the universal issue of children having to parent the parent. It is out of print, but used copies are still circulating if you look for them.

Welcome to Deedy.com's Blog

It is finally time to whip my website into shape. This blog is just one of the new features I am adding to Deedy.com and hopefully will be well received.

I will try to post items of interest to Deedy's everywhere as well as some information and news about my hometown of Winthrop, MA. If you are not familiar with Winthrop, it is a small town (1.2 sq. Miles with population of 18,303 - 2000 census) which boarders Boston in the state of Massachusetts. The town is surrounded by Boston Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean as can be seen on this map. I grew up in Winthrop and last year purchased my first home in this town.

The house is a bit of a "fixer-upper" and I anticipate that stories about the home will take up a lot of space here.



Web Deedy.com

120x90_familyhist_dark_1.gif


XML

Powered by Blogger

free webpage hit counter



© 2008 Deedy.com Blog | Deedy.com
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.