First-Recorded Citation of the Term "Selfie"

No - a drunk Australian student did not invent the term "selfie". I was using it at least ten years before him!

In 2013 the Oxford English Dictionary selected "selfie" as its word of the year, and defined it as "photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website." (Oxford English Dictionary) Over the years I've read with interest that "the first use of the word selfie in any paper or electronic medium appeared in an Australian internet forum on 13 September 2002" (Wikipedia).

Apparently an Australian man, by the name of Nathan Hope posted a photograph of his beaten up bottom lip (after falling over at a friend's 21st birthday party) with the comment: "Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie." Here are some articles that provide the full story:

• The Telegraph (UK) - 19 November 2013
• The Mail Online (UK) - 29 April 2015
• The Guardian (UK) - 19 November 2013
• Visual Thesaurus (SAU) - 20 November 2013

Sure - people have been taking self-portraits for over a century and a half, and there's a lot of debate on this subject on the internet. For example:

• Quora (USA) - 2014-2015
• Slate - Ben Zimmer (USA) - 22 November 2013

But where's the first recorded use of the term "selfie" to describe a self-portrait? It seems that Nathan Hope wasn't the first to use it. My wife (then girlfriend) and I have been using the term "selfie" since the 1980's and 1990's, and here's the evidence.

In mid-1989 I left the land of my birth - South Africa - and moved to the UK. In September that year I flew out to Turkey and then made my way overland, across Europe and back to the UK. As I was mostly travelling alone, and didn't like asking random people to take photos of me at historic sites, I developed a technique to capture images of myself. By trial and error, I learned how to frame self-portraits with my Pentax ME-Super SLR by looking at my reflection in the curve of the lens. What you saw reflected back at you from the surface of the lens, is what went onto the film. In those days before auto-focus and smart auto-exposure, I'd follow these steps:

• Look for a good spot, with the sun on my face and a feature behind me.
• I'd fit either a 24mm lens or "fisheye" lens to the Pentax.
• I'd set the aperture to at least f8 for good depth of field.
• Facing the feature, I'd set the shutter speed, exposing for the skin on my left hand.
• I'd then find a nearby object, an arms length away, and fix the focus on that.
• With the aperture, shutter speed and focus all set, I'd turn my back to the historic site or feature.
• I would wrap the camera's neck strap around a hand and turn the camera around, with the lens facing me.
• If using my left hand, the camera would be right-side-up, as the shutter release button was under my left index finger.
• If using my right hand, I'd turn the camera upside-down, as the shutter release button would then be under my right thumb.
• I'd then frame the photograph by looking at the reflection coming off the curve of the lens.
• Smile. Eliminate as much shake as possible. Squeeze. Expose.
• Hope for the best and see if it worked when you get the film processed weeks later!

On returning to South Africa, I shared some of my images with the f/22 Camera Club in Pretoria (tel. +27 12 345 3129) where I was a member. Those in attendance were impressed by some of the self-portraits I'd taken, especially those from interesting angles. So during one of my travelogue slide shows, I shared the secrets of my technique with the club, and also used the term "selfie".

For example, here's a "selfie" I shot at the end of 1989 in Berlin, when the Wall was coming down:

The fact that the term selfie has an "-ie" suffix is sometimes cited as the tell-tale sign that it came from Australia. In Australian English, the "ie" suffix "serves as a marker of informality – providing speakers with a shared code of familiarity and solidarity according to Lexicographer Mark Gwynn, from the National Dictionary Centre (Mail Online, 2015).

My wife and I have never been to Australia and (at the time) neither of us had any family connections there. So why were we using the "-ie" suffix? Well, there is another country that also uses "-ie" a lot, and that's South Africa. In the Afrikaans language, the diminutive of a noun is created by using either the suffix "-ie", "-kie" or "-tjie". According to the Wiktionary entry, Afrikaans diminutive nouns "are derived from a base word to convey endearment, small size or small intensity."

• Take a look at this video on YouTube to see how diminutives are used in Afrikaans.
• See "A Grammar of Afrikaans" which confirms that "The diminutive is extensively used in Afrikaans. It is perhaps somewhat more common in speech than in writing, but is definitely more common in written Afrikaans than in written Dutch, for example. The way Afrikaans speakers use their diminutive ending lends Afrikaans a charm that bears comparison with the way it is used in Yiddish, for example."

As stated above, the use of diminutives is extremely common in colloquial Afrikaans, and conversation is peppered with them. Both my wife and I studied at an Afrikaans university, and my mother-in-law is an Afrikaner. At home we speak an eclectic mix of languages and so might might things like "gooi vir my 'n biertjie" ("toss me a small beer") or use term of endearment like "I love you skattie" ("I love you my little treasure"). I'm not sure whether it was my wife or me who came up with the term "selfie" as a shorter way of saying "self portrait", but it's likely to have been me during my lonely year on the road in Europe in 1989-1990.

So, how can I prove this? I certainly have dozens of self-portraits in my collection - see a small sample here - but don't have anything written down to confirm that I was using the term. Neither do I have evidence of the slide show I gave at the f/22 Camera Club, or notes from the presentation I made. Without evidence, I unfortunately have no claim.

I never really had any way of proving all of this...until recently. Over the past few years I have been slowly converting the old VHS tapes that I shot in the 90's to digital (MP4) files. I recently worked on one from Thursday, August 15, 1996. At the time my wife and I were living and working in Prague, and were on holiday in Turkey. Between 3 min 03 sec and 3 min 05 sec on the tape - as our ferry is landing at the port of Eceabat on the Bosphorus - my wife, Debra Childs, is heard instructing me to "Take a selfie! Take a selfie!" Take a look at the clip here...

I have a significant collection of Fujichrome slides from my world travels and beyond, and having mined my way through tens of thousands of them, I'm happy to say that I've actually found the selfie that my wife was so desperately encouraging me to take on that day. Take a look at the image below. At 02 min 57 sec on the video tape you'll recognise the exact background behind Debra and I in the photograph...

So there you have it! I have always said to my friends that my wife and I coined the term "selfie", but at last I've got the evidence of my wife using it a full six years before Nathan Hope did in Australia!

How do we change the history books and get the Oxford English Dictionary updated?

Cheers, MAlfaRK (a.k.a. Mark Lyndon Pautz) ©

The Room

Since 1965, this has been my bedroom at my parents' place in Pretoria, South Africa.

This was the humble birth-place of a million dreams, plans, hopes, fears, desires, passions, obsessions and neuroses. It has witnessed overwhelming joy, true love, heartbreak, the depths of depression, debilitating loss, hatred, bitterness, sorrow and happiness.

It is the place where I studied for 12 years at school and earned three cum laude degrees, where radio became my friend and medium of choice, where I developed my eclectic taste in music and escaped into new and exciting worlds of sound. It was here that myself (and others) prepared for sleep-overs, parties, matric dances, army goodbyes, trips to the border, weddings, christenings, funerals, graduations and expeditions abroad.

This room has witnessed the wildest of wild nights of S and D and R&R, projectile vomiters, rock throwers, long dong silvers, gun-slingers, bottle-snorters and neighbour-destroying loud music. My little room has witnessed so much and could tell a lifetime of stories...most of which will remain untold! ;-)

A special place that has witnessed my life and defined who I am today.

Photographed on Saturday, October 19, 2013.

Cheers, MAlfaRK © 2017-10-22

Green Day - London 2017-07-01

Over recent weeks, Debra and I have attended a couple of concerts in London, namely KISS and Guns N' Roses. Well, yesterday a young garage band that I (and a couple of hundred other interested beer drinkers) first saw in Prague on March 26, 1996 literally blew both KISS and GnR away with a masterful three hour set that packed nostalgia, fresh music, fun, energy, positivity, empathy, high energy, humanity, politics, emotion and a good vibe into one flawless, uplifting and efforlessly delivered package.

Twenty-one years on from when I first saw them, Green Day has finally self-actualised and become the band they were always capable of being. Now global mega-stars, the group's audience has grown from the handful of punters in the smoky, smelly Czech venue that I remember to an audience of 65,000 in Hyde Park for the second day of the British Summer Time festival on July 1, 2017.

And what a bloody fine day it was. The weather was perfect - sunny with clouds - and the crowd, good natured and knowledgible. The line-up was the reason Debs and I chose to attend this day of the festival. There were 18 acts on the bill, but we cherrypicked what we wanted to see, and took a laid-back approach to the day. This is what we ended up seeing:

• We started the day with lunch and a few drinks at the Victory Services Club at Marble Arch.
• The Damned (14h30)
• The Hives (15h40)
• The Orwells (16h40) - a few numbers, while buying beer
• Gogol Bordello (16h50)
• Rancid (18h00)
• The Stranglers (19h00) - I last saw them in 1996, but we decided not to give up our nice spot on the lawn just before Green Day, and so didn't take in their set this time round
• Green Day (19h45)

On June 17, Guns N' Roses did a cover version of The Damned's "New Rose". Although I thoroughly enjoyed the GnR tribute to the London group's 1977 punk anthem, it was great to hear the track from the horse's mouth. I first heard it back in 1978 back in Pretoria when I bought the track as a 7-inch single. Still a bloody magnificent song, and The Damned delivered a very accomplished performance. They were better than expected.

The Hives were a revelation. Vocalist Howlin' Pelle Almqvist opened up their set with a comment along the lines of "We're a European band - you tried to get rid of us Europeans, but we're baaaaaack!" That set the scene for a short by stonking set that left both Debra and me declaring that we needed to see more of this razor sharp Swedish quintet. "Hate to Say I Told You So" is still a tight and brilliantly constructed garage track.

The Orwells hail from Chicago and seemed like angry young men. I can't say anything more than that as they were the background muzak as I bought beer between sets.

I'd seen Gogol Bordello on the Jools Holland show on the BBC some years ago, and they left an impression. However, I'd not listened to them since. For us they were the revelation of the day. The band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music mixed with violin, accordion punk, and some dub tossed in for good measure. Gogol Bordello's set was delivered at pace - energetic, theatrical and emotional. At times it brought tear to my eyes and a lump to my throat, and the Gypsy sound cut deep into my soul, reminding me why I want to remain European rather than being forced to become a Little Englander by Kim Jong May and her acolytes. Passionate music with a sense of tradition and flaunting its roots. "Gypsy punk" - absolutely loved it!

If it was American punk rock you wanted, Rancid was what you'd been waiting for. lthough they've been around since 1991, I didn't know their music. Rancid is apparently credited, along with Green Day and The Offspring, for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the USA and bringing a version of punk into the mainstream. Ska tracks peppered their set, which only cemented their links back to the likes of The Clash back in their heyday. An intense performance by some hardcore dudes. I need to tap into their nine album back-catalogue and learn more.

Prior to the main event, the audience got a bit of singing practice (I'm midfield, just to the right of centre). As I'm writing this, I have tears in my eyes. This is what immortality sounds like!

And then it was Green Day, on the UK leg of their "Revolution Radio" tour. Front-man Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool, thrashed into a caustic rendition of "Know Your Enemy" declaring that, given the state of the world, the night was all about freedom, unity and music making a difference. "No racism, no sexism, no homophobia - and no Donald Trump" - despite their advancing years, Green Day's performance had the whiff of a student protest. But Armstrong is a tireless showman who exudes charm, and whose razor sharp wit must make him one of music’s most likable performers. The band wore their affiliations on their sleeve all the way through to the encore. During "American Idiot" (the band’s protest against the Iraq war) Armstrong flicked the bird and yelled: “Fuck you, Donald Trump!” much to the amusement of the audience...all trying to blank over their own national embarrassment, namely Kim Jong May and her Blukip isolationists.

Despite all the positive audience interactions (including bringing members of the audience on stage to sing and play guitar), it was the relentless rock music and pure joy of the crowd that made the night so special. The band knocked out 27 songs over three hours, their set spanning almost 30 years. All the hits were there and no one in the 60,000 strong audience could have been disappointed. There was definitely something for everyone...including a bit of George Michael’s "Careless Whisper" and even Monty Pythons’ "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." It was all a great deal of fun, and the overall tone of the show harked back to their youthful goofiness. Much needed in these depressing times.

We absolutely loved it and, at midnight, made our way home feeling tired but rejuvinated, and sporting broad grins from ear to ear! I wish all concerts/festivals could be like this.

Here's the full Green Day setlist from Hyde Park.

Oh - and the organizers did a fantastic job of getting 60,000 people into the park and then out again at the end of the night. Security was high, but efficient and good natured. The food and drink facilities were amazing for a festival, and queues were managable. There was even a "craft beer" vendor which was a refreshing alternative to the ubiquitous cheap, fizzy lager fountains. The live audio was also exceptionally well managed. Sound engineers had erected "delay" towers (each topped with a bank of speakers) all the way to the back of the park and so audio was perfectly synchronised with the excellent array of large screens that were dotted around the site. Everyone in the park effectively had a front-row seat, without having to brave the mosh-pit. I guess I'm getting old ;-) The organizers of the abysmal Guns N' Roses concert at the Olympic Stadium in London could certainly learn a lot from the BST team.

See my full set of photographs in this album.

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©

Sainsbury Stress

It's supermarket time again,
Time to buy some food and then,
Race back home to cook it up,
Hmmm - yum - lovely stuff!

But first the horror of the isles,
Sweaty staff with fake smiles,
Look at me with blank stares,
Dirty hands and shaven hair.

Icy cold in the freezers,
Hot food and ugly geezers,
Pushing trolleys to and fro,
One pound a pop - off we go.

Grabbing bargains left and right,
"Oi - that's mine - wanna fight?"
A bogof frenzy, I declare,
Hurry, let's get out of here!

Looking at the "Use By" date,
One day left - it's not too late,
Toilet paper on row three,
A family pack with twelve for free!

Squeezing past a doddering gran,
Hurry, hurry, grab some spam,
Checkout time - here we go,
Into line - forgot the dough!

Bags in the car - it's time to leave,
St. Albans' daily traffic weave,
Done and dusted - oh yippee!
Glad that's over; I need some tea.

By, MAlfaRK & Son © 2017-05-18

Guns N' Roses - London 2017-06-17

On Saturday, June 17, 2017, my wife and I took in the Guns N' Roses reunion tour - "Not In This Lifetime" - at London's Olympic Stadium. So, what did we think? Here are some thoughts from that hot and sweaty summer's night.

Firstly, it must be said - what a remarkable guitarist Slash (a.k.a. Saul Hudson) is. I saw him playing solo a few years back and I'd forgotten how technically adept and effortlessly he plays. He is definitely one of the all-time great Rock 'n' Roll guitarists.

Secondly, Axl Rose (a.k.a. William Bruce Rose, Jr.) surprised us. We went in with low expectations, remembering his "Oh, oh, oh, oh sweet pie o' mine" days. Not only was his voice in pretty great shape, but Rose was noticeably slimmer. I guess the stint with AC/DC did him good, and gave his vocal cords the workout they needed. The cobwebs are gone, and there were only half a dozen or so times when his age showed and he lost the top end of his six octave vocal range. I'll forgive him for that. It was great to hear him do a cover version of AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" - it worked really well, and it's just a pity that my video camera ran out of battery before the end of the track.

Thirdly, it was great to see Duff McKagan (a.k.a. Michael Andrew McKagan) in the flesh. Freshly from the Hollywood Vampires, and founder of Velvet Revolver, I've wanted to see him in action for a long time. The highlight was his vocal for the cover version of The Damned's "New Rose". I thoroughly enjoyed the GnR tribute to the London group's 1977 punk anthem.

Fourthly, there were no big surprises in the set list, with the GnR classics being played, alongside covers of Nino Rota, The Damned, Wings, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and AC/DC. The band also played an emotional rendition of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" as a tribute to Chris Cornell, who died in May. As they dished out nearly three hours of ferocious, preposterous and moving rock, Debra and I were transported back a quarter of a century, to a different time and place, where we lived under a state of emergency and authoritarian rule, and music was one of the few escapes from harsh reality. "Sweet Child O’ Mine," "Welcome to the Jungle," “You Could Be Mine" and "Paradise City" stoked up nihilistic memories of old friends back in South Africa, wild parties, late night braais, tequila, whiskey, wine, Old Brown Sherry, sex, drunken death games in speeding cars, mixed tapes and altered states of consciousness. Phew - there are reams of memories bound up in those tracks, and it was wonderful to hear them first hand. "Civil War" in particular brought back all too vividly a time in history when South Africa was burning, with the country balanced on a knife's edge.

I don't need your civil war
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor
Your power hungry sellin' soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain't that fresh
I don't need your civil war

Yes - exactly - right song, right time, right place. Will never be forgotten.

Here's the full set list.

On the flip side, I now remember why I have not been to another stadium concert since seeing U2 at Strahov Stadium in Prague in 1997. The commute to the Olympic Stadium (on the hottest day of the year) was reasonable. Thameslink to St. Pancras and South Eastern trains to Stratford International. And then the walk from hell to "Bridge 3", the massive security operation and the climb to the top of the stadium...where no drinks were sold. No - I don't like stadium shows. The sound at the venue was also abysmal. As the band launched into its opening track - "It's So Easy" - smiles of anticipation turned into looks of disbelief. The acoustics towards the back of the stadium felt like radioactive sludge. It was like being in a badly lip-synced Milli Vanilli video, with the culprit being the phasing of the central and rear loudspeakers. This meant that the music and images on the big screens were barely in the same time zone.

Bloody hell - the show was not nearly loud enough either. With the reverberation around the athletics stadium, all the detail and nuances were lost by the time the sound reached us, and the volume had escaped to the sky. There was absolutely no ringing in my ears by the end of the show and, all in all, it was like listening to a Guns N' Roses album through a down pillow and a large bag of popcorn. Atrocious. At £105.75 for a crap seat, I really expected more, but I guess the band only got back together to milk the old cash cow, so maximizing profits is what it was all about.

This spilled over into the whole look and feel of the performance as well. This was a gig with production values at an all time low. There was really no "show", and it was certainly no Rammstein, AC/DC, Muse, Kiss, Marliyn Manson, Metallica or Alice Cooper. It was simply a handful of blokes and a chick standing on the stage, occasionally changing positions. And from the back you couldn't see them anyway. We made a good call when we brought along our binoculars. As half of the performance was in the summer sunshine, there was negligible investment in a "light show" and even the limited pyrotechnics seemed insignificant from where we were. There was certainly no grand spectacle to compensate for the crap sound - and for that size venue (and for that price) I'd expected more.

The concert lasted a full two and a half hours and leaving the stadium and getting back on our train home took almost as long. I don't know how many people were there - possibly 50,000 - but the stadium security people did not do a good job of getting people out and pointing them in the right direction. It was confusing, frustrating and uncomfortable, and tempers flared. There was also no place for the dehydrated crowd to buy water...only t-shirts and memorabilia to feed the profit machine. The cherry on the top was having to take the packed, slow Thameslink from St. Pancras back to Hertfordshire, followed by the walk home. Good grief - that train ride seemed endless!

Walking out of the arena at the end of the gig, my wife and I both made the same observation. We now remembered why we dropped GnR like a hot potato at the dawn of the grunge era. Chunks of the performance were dedicated to spotlighting Slash's guitar virtuosity. As I've said, a remarkable talent, but the long, protracted guitar solos were a leftover from the 70's at the time before punk came and blew away Prog Rock in one-minute-fifty-nine. Similarly, back in the early 90's bands had descended into big hair, spandex, pompous elitism, bloated compositions, self-indulgent displays of musical proficiency and overblown delusions of grandeur. The onstage onanism in front of a packed audience in London reminded us how grunge had wiped the slate clean and how it invigorated us and made music fresh again, all those years ago. We were happy to have seen GnR's virtuosos in action, but also glad that we'd moved on from all of that pretentiousness a long time ago. And to quote The Guardian: “…what seemed overtly masculine in youth seems theatrically feminine in middle age: the camp mannerisms of a rocker grinding around the stage, the falsetto vocals, Slash’s fantastic black cloud of hair. The huge emotional neediness of everything. The passion. The love.” Yup – all a bit much; we’ve definitely grown up.

So, did we enjoy the show? I was certainly excellent to see much of GnR's original line-up (through binoculars), and to hear all those classics from the band's glory days. But the overall experience was disappointing, primarily due to the venue and just the size of the audience. Will I do another stadium concert? No. Will I return to the Olympic Stadium in London? Nope - not in this lifetime!

See my full set of photographs in this album.

Here are my video clips from the gig.

Track 2/27 - Mr. Brownstone

Track 4/47 - Welcome to the Jungle

Track 8/27 - Live and Let Die (by Wings)

Track 9/27 - Rocket Queen

Track 10/27 - You Could Be Mine

Track 11/27 - New Rose (by The Damned)

Track 13/27 - Civil War

Tracks 16, 17 & 18/27 - Slash Guitar Solo, Speak Softly Love (from The Godfather) & Sweet Child O' Mine

Track 22/27 - Black Hole Sun (by Soundgarden)

Track 26/27 - Whole Lotta Rosie (by AC/DC)

Track 27/27 - Paradise City

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©

Me And My Banier!

This is a photo of me, aged five, with my first Medium Format camera. It's a "Banier" - a clone of the "Diana", made by the Great Wall Plastic Factory in Hong Kong, and first sold in the early 60's for less than $3.00. The Diana is the darling of the lomography crowd, and it’s not entirely clear whether the Banier is a Diana clone or just an actual Diana under another name. But it's probably safe to assume that it’s an incarnation of the Diana, made in the same molds but sold in geographies where the manufacturer thought they'd get a better response to a different brand name. The Banier was a glorified box camera that shot 120 roll film and produced 4x4cm images, sixteen to a roll.

This photo was taken in East London by my father with his fantastic Kodak Retina IIIc, a camera that eventually accompanied me on a European tour in 1978-79. In fact, I still own the Retina, and may still have the Banier too. I wouldn't be surprised if it was in a box at my mother's place in Pretoria, South Africa. It was January 5, 1967 and I got the camera as a Christmas present a week or so earlier. It replaced the Kodak Box Brownie that my parents gave me for Christmas when I was three or four years old.

Behind me in this shot is my mother, sitting in our Volkswagen Type 3 "Notchback" 1500. We had driven down from Pretoria to Queenstown, where my father did some gliding before we moved on to King William's Town and East London. This image was captured on the waterfront in East London, Cape Province, South Africa on January 5, 1967.

This photo was taken two days later - January 7, 1967. I think it was at my paternal grandmother's home at 5 Crown Flats, 20 Eales Street, King William's Town, Cape Province, South Africa. This shot was also taken with my father's magnificent Kodak Retina IIIc.

Interestingly my gran, Caroline Catherine Pautz (nee Wright), was a photographic assistant at a studio in King William's Town for much of her working life, and this is no doubt the origin of my family's interest in photography.

Read this fantastic 2016 review of the Banier. I love his comment up front: "Spoiler alert: Unless you seriously want that junky, lo-fi, plastic crap camera experience, avoid these." :-)

Although it's clearly not the greatest camera in the world, my cheap plastic Banier was a gateway to a new world for me. It put technology in the hands of a young boy and planted the little creative seed that I still nurture to this day. Respect.

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©

The Pautz Blazon of Arms

I have always contended that the Pautz family does not have a Blazon of Arms (the formal name for a "Coat of Arms") as our Pomeranian pregenitors were peasant farm labourers, and only the nobility had coats of arms. But a recent look at Wikipedia has made me revisit
the issue:

"The ancient Romans used similar insignia on their shields, but these identified military units rather than individuals. The first evidence of medieval coats of arms is found in the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry in which some of the combatants carry shields painted with crosses. Coats of arms came into general use by feudal lords and knights in battle in the 12th century. By the 13th century, arms had spread beyond their initial battlefield use to become a flag or emblem for families in the higher social classes of Europe, inherited from one generation to the next. Exactly who had a right to use arms, by law or social convention, varied to some degree between countries. In the GERMAN-SPEAKING regions both the aristocracy and "burghers" (non-noble free citizens) used arms, while in most of the rest of Europe they were limited to the aristocracy. The use of arms spread to the clergy, to towns as civic identifiers, and to royally chartered organizations such as universities and trading companies. Flags developed from coats of arms, and the arts of vexillology and heraldry are closely related. The coats of arms granted to commercial companies are a major source of the modern logo."

I have not been able to varify that in the German-speaking regions, regular free "burghers" (citizens, of a town) also used coats of arms, but the idea is an interesting one. All of the Pautz settlers to British Kaffraria (now the Eastern Cape of South Africa) in the 1850's were "Tagelöhner" (Tageloehner) or "day labourers" - the lowest standing in a predominantly agricultural society. But interestingly enough, tagelöhner were free. While the estate labourer on the vast estates, on the whole belonging to titled gentry (and had to get the landlord's permission for every move he wanted to make - "May I marry this girl?" for example), the Tagelöhner, although very poor, was master of his own destiny. This is not worth much if one has not the means to fulfil plans and dreams, but if a Tagelöhner could scrape together the money for the fare to Africa or America, he was free to go. On the other hand, the farmhand, employed by a landlord, and more often than not living in a "tied cottage" (the house goes with the job), had to ask permission to leave. As this was not easily given, many emigrants had to abscond and could only breath a sigh of relief once they were on the ship and sails were set.

So our South African progenitor, Karl August Ferdinand Gottlieb Pautz, was a free man, and MAY have had a Blazon of Arms. However, In my four decades of research through achive material in South Africa, Poland and Germany, I have never seen evidence of this, and have no first-hand (or anecdotal) family references to Arms. So I still doubt whether the family actually has its own Blazon.

The South African Pautzes originated from the towns of Wisbu and Woldenburg in Landkreis Regenwalde in Hinterpommern. Regenwalde was owned by nobility, namely the old Pomeranian family, the von der Ostens, who themselves have an interesting history.

I've been lucky enough to visit the area and the villages a number of times, and it's a beautiful, rural environment with a fascinating (and somethimes tragic) history. Over the past two decades, I have aquired a number of old maps and documents from Hinterpommern and Landkreis Regenwalde which reveal that the most common symbol of Pomerania is the Griffin, so I'd expect there to be a Griffin in the Pautz coat of arms, if it existed.

On my honeymoon in Scotland in 1995, at Loch Ness, I fell into a tourist trap and bought a Pautz Blazon of Arms from a company that claimed to have it on file (Heraldic Art and Design, 36 Swanston Avenue, Inverness, IV3 6QW, Scotland - I've searched, but don't think they exist anymore). They sent it to me in South Africa and this is it...

Utterly boring, seems to be generic, and there's not a Griffin in sight!

Nevertheless, the scroll itself was fairly nice - the artwork was hand painted and the caligraphy, pleasing on the eye...

The accompanying text was interesting:

"The surname Pautz is of Polish origin, though ultimately derived from the ancient Wendish word "pust", Polish "pusty", signifying "swamp, fen" and thus was first applied to a resident in or by such a spot. The place name Bautzen, where a related Slavonic language was spoken until the middle of the eighteenth century, is from the same root and may, in fact, sometimes have given rise to the surname."

By all accounts the family motto is "Pro Patria" (i.e. "for my country") - very ironic, as that was the name of the medal awarded to those of us who fought in the "Border War" in Northern Namibia and Angola in the 1970's. As I said - interesting - but there are no sources or references provived for this information, so someone in Aberdeen could have just sucked it out of his or her thumb!

Back in Pretoria in 1992 I also bought this (cheap, dot-matrix-printed) document from one of those guys in shopping malls. It probably has even less validity than the hard-written and -painted Aberdeen scroll, but here it is for completeness.

It's most likely a load of concocted nonsense (i.e. once again no sources of references cited) but here's the interesting, but probably generic, bit of the text:

"The German surname Pautz can derive from two sources. Firstly, the name is of nickname origin, deriving from a personal or physical characteristic of the original bearer. In this instance, the name derives from the Middle Hight German term "buz" which was interchangeable with the term "puz" (The letters "B" and "P" are interchangeable in German). Puz was literally translated as "small", therefore one of small stature was so named. Nicknames were very common in medieval Europe, they were terms of affection and endearment and they were also functional so that bearers of the same personal name could be easily distinguished. Alternatively, this name can derive from a patronymic source, from the first name of the father. In this case, the name derives from the Old Germanic name Pautz which was a pet form of Paul. The surname was thus denoted as "a son of Paul\Pautz". An early instance of this name occurs in the "Urkunden des Staatsarchivus": one Heinrich Bautz is listed therein in 1474. The "Freiburger Diozesanarchiv" lists one Johann Pautze in 1486."

So - there it is, for what it's worth! Personally, I remain very sceptical about the validity and reliability of the information presented in the two documents, but will continue to hunt for supporting evidence. Hey - at some stage I may formally lodge a coat of arms with the official registry here in the UK, but will certainly get professional heraldic input (and broad family consensus) before doing so!

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©

Somme 100 Brexit

Today is the 100th anniversary of the commencement of the Battle of the Somme in World War I, and I've been listening to an album that has a tenuous link to the horrors of the trenches.

In 1980 The Clash released my favourite triple album of all time, "Sandinista!" I bought it at the Hillbrow Record Centre soon after it was released, while on pass from operational service in the army. I recorded it and the tape accompanied me to Ruacana and M'pacha (in Namibia), where I served out the final year of my national service in South Africa. I played it till my ears bled! Musically it's one of the challenging variations on the Sandinista! album, with The Clash experimenting with Music Hall, one of British music's oldest genres that stretches back to Victorian and Edwardian times. The campy vaudeville elements sound an odd contrast to The Clash's intelegent, reggae-infused Punk Rock. One of the standout song came at the end of side A of album 1/3 and is called "Something About England." I know every word and nuance of the song (which has frequently brought a tear to my eye), and it's particularly relevant today, in post-referendum, low-road Britain.



Take, for example, the opening four lines of the track:

They say immigrants steal the hubcaps

Of respected gentlemen
They say it would be wine an' roses
If England were for Englishmen again

Sounds all too familiar. Structurally, the lyric is a conversation between the narrator (guitarist Mick Jones) and a wistful old tramp (singer Joe Strummer). The first verse cited above is a putdown of lazy racism - higher social classes blaming immigration for a society's ills, which all sounds eerily familiar 36 years on. Because of the musical complexity of the track, and the worry that the first verse may be misinterpreted by right-wing xenophobes in the audience, the song was never performed live.

The tramp's lyrics in "Something About England" are some of the most political and social commentary in The Clash's back catalogue, bemoaning how two World Wars and mass industrialisation still couldn't break down the class system which is at the root of so much disharmony in England. The final verse drags us from the World Wars and the Cold War into the stark reality of Britain in 2016:

The streets were by now deserted
The gangs had trudged off home
The lights clicked off in the bedsits
An' old England was all alone

Damn - I miss music like this. In under four minutes, the eloquent lyric takes you through a century of British history, protests against social ills, sticks one up at the establishment and brings into focus what's happening on the streets around us today. Here's the full lyric for your reading pleasure. Why am I not posting the customary YouTube link? Interesting that. There used to be at least a dozen iterations of the track available on YouTube till recently. But take a look today - the links are there but the message one gets back is that the content is "now blocked in your country". Too incendiary? Too close to the bone? The truth has always hurt, and it still does.

In the absence of a video, here's an audio stream from Vietnam...



Here's the full lyric...

The Clash - "Something About England" (Sandinista! 1980) 

They say immigrants steal the hubcaps
Of respected gentlemen
They say it would be wine an' roses
If England were for Englishmen again

Well I saw a dirty overcoat
At the foot of the pillar of the road
Propped inside was an old man
Whom time would not erode
When the night was snapped by sirens
Those blue lights circled fast
The dance hall called for an' ambulance
The bars all closed up fast

My silence gazing at the ceiling
While roaming the single room
I thought the old man could help me
If he could explain the gloom
You really think it's all new
You really think about it too
The old man coffed as he spoke to me
I'll tell you a thing or two

I missed the fourteen-eighteen war
But not the sorrow afterwards
With my father dead and my mother ran off
My brothers took the pay of hoods
The twenties turned the north was dead
The hunger strike came marching south
At the garden party not a word was said
The ladies lifted cake to their mouths

The next war began and my ship sailed
With battle orders writ'n in red
In five long years of bullets and shells
We left ten million dead
The few returned to old Piccadilly
We limped around Leicester Square
The world was busy rebuilding itself
The architects could not care

But how could we know when I was young
All the changes that were to come?
All the photos in the wallets on the battlefield
And now the terror of the scientific sun
There was masters an' servants an' servants an' dogs
They taught you how to touch your cap
But through strikes an' famine an' war an' peace
England never closed this gap

So leave me now the moon is up
But remember all the tales I tell
The memories that you have dragged up
Are on letters forwarded from hell

The streets were by now deserted
The gangs had trudged off home
The lights clicked off in the bedsits
An' old England was all alone

Cheers, MAlfaRK ©

** Also see Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros **

The Return of Perfidious Albion

June 24, 2016

On the two week run-up to yesterday's referendum in Britain, I posted a few comments to Facebook: 

Just a reminder - don't empower Farage's UKIP on June 23.

The hypocrisy of Brexiteer Boris, who's clearly just working his own political aganda and quest for power. This is what he said in his book just two years ago: "It was his (Churchill’s) idea to bring those countries together, to bind them together so indissolubly that they could never go to war again - and who can deny, today, that this idea has been a spectacular success? Together with Nato the European Community, now Union, has helped to deliver a period of peace and prosperity for its people as long as any since the days of the Antonine emperors.”

£65b takes flight, on for fear that the UK will vote to exit the EU. Thanks Farage and the Brexiteers - there go our pensions

Bloody foreigners - come here; take our jobs! It will be interesting to see what impact Brexit would have on these individuals working in the EU. Back to a ball-reaking yearly work permit process, I expect. Been there; done that, and I don't wish it on anyone! And I have no doubt that leaving the EU would put paid to my dreams of retiring to Portugal one day. All this because we're xenophobic and nationalistic :-( Good grief - it's sounding more like central Europe in the 1920's and 30's. 

No "Project Fear" required. If this mugwump gets the US top job and the UK proletariat elects to self-flagellate by imploding the EU, we're doomed. Fact. The end of the (generally) safe, secure and prosperous world as we know it, and the tipping point for "Western Civilisation". The Barbarians filled the void after the fall of Rome. I have no doubt that history will repeat itself.

Member of Parliament, Jo Cox, was murdred today. This is one of the last links she posted to her Twitter feed. To quote Franklin Medhurst, DFC (RAF 1939-46): "If the nation should fall for this deceit (i.e. voting "leave") I can only conclude that the lives of my comrades – Irish, Scots, Welsh and English – were lost in vain. They will be rattling their bones, wherever in the world they fell, at the loss of the beliefs for which they fought. Britain in Europe will enhance progress to higher values in the greater world; Britain out means a return to the early-20th-century chaos of warring states against each other. I am 96. I remember how far we have come. I know what we stand to lose."

The Times backs Britain remaining in the EU. Bottom line: "staying in may not sound as exhilarating or romantic as a defiant march to Brexit, but it is the better choice for Britain and Europe."

To all those Brexiteers who "want their country back", PLEASE read this eloquent piece. There is a reason that most of the people who want to leave the EU are old while those who want to remain are young: it’s because the young aren’t infected with "Bisto nostalgia" and have enjoyed a good life in the EU...

Welcome home Tim Peake - great job :-) "So a British man has just returned from space. He never would have got there if it hadn't of been for the incredible work of people from over a dozen countries working in collaboration and co-operation over the past few decades. That work means we have the ISS, a permanently manned outpost in space doing essential research in preserving the future of our species and it's been there for nearly twenty years. As a basis of comparison, China, who have worked solo on manned spaceflight since the 60's, only launched their first man into space FIVE years after the ISS launched. It's not a perfect analogy by any stretch but it highlights how much better, more effective and stronger countries can be by working together rather than seeking isolationism. Tim Peake would have never got to space if we had just made a spitfire out of sauce pans and iron gates and tried to will it to escape the clutches of Earth's gravity by shouting 'Rule Britannia' at it as loudly as possible. Which I'm sure would be Farage's et al preferred method." (Sam Pike 2016-06-18) Vote "remain" on June 23...

Today, in town, I was approached by a "leave" campaigner, peddling her message of hate and xenophobia. When I proved anything but receptive, she took a different tack and started quoting the Bible. Apparently Brexit is God's will and the European Union is the new Tower of Babel that The Lord is going to bring down. I went ballistic, and apparently one day I'm going to have to account to this Creationist's invisible friend. The ultimate fear tactic. The lunatics have taken over the asylum. Vote "remain" to stay in the EU on June 23.

John Oliver was excellent last night, summing up the situation really well. 
 
Boris Johnson, the opportunist who was a staunch "remain" supporter only a few months ago, has descended to such a pathetic level of politicking that not even his father support his point of view. If Johnson doen't have the backing of a parent (who probably understands his intentions better than most), he's clearly lost the argument.

A vote to leave the EU is a vote for "separate development". In South Africa that same philosophy became the foundation of Apartheid. Sure, this is a different time and place, but only yesterday this poster appeared on the streets of Britain, demonising hundreds of desperate refugees including hungry, terrified children fleeing from the terror of Isis and Russian bombs. It's a slippery slope. Distrust the Brexit isolationists on June 23...

A Brexit could feasibly take us back to a situation similar to 1967 when, following a 14% devaluation in Sterling, Harold Wilson famously declared that “the pound in your pocket has not been devalued.” But the British people disagreed with him, quickly noticing that the cost of imports and foreign holidays were rising sharply and that their true living standards were going down. Meanwhile financial speculators, back then called the "Gnomes of Zurich", were making large profits at Britain’s expense. I watched this video with a depressing sense of premonition. Today the speculative forces in the markets much bigger and more powerful, so don't let this happen again - vote to "remain" in the European Union on June 23

Why would anyone in the UK ignore global leaders, most expert opinion and now 1,285 business leaders? Simply to feel that you're a "true libertarian" and enjoy giving two fingers to “The Man?" Sure, it's nice to vote with your heart, and it's easy to soak up the thumb-sucked ra-ra of the "remain" camp's vapourware. Making the case for the status quo (with actual data) is less glamorous and alluring, but decisions of this enormity need to be taken with the head and not the heart. The hard facts are that Brexit would damage Britain’s economy and therefore each and every one of us. Smaller businesses and employers would be particularly vulnerable to any economic shock as a result of an "out" vote as Britain leaving would mean uncertainty, less trade and fewer jobs. The terms of trade between Britain and its European market would have to be reset “from scratch” in the event of a Brexit, and that's just insane. But, sadly, logic gets swept under the carpet in minds where nationalism, xenophobia and isolationism run deep. The referendum has forced people to reveal their true colours, and it's been disturbing to get a glimpse of a dark, heartless and intolerant side of Britain that would have been at home in Germany of the '30's and South Africa of the '70's. The "leave" campaign's Project Hate has been destructive, and I personally can't wait to put this turbulent time behind us. Tomorrow, please use your head and vote to "remain" in the European Union.

For Britain to stand alone against the forces of evil in 1940 was heroic. For Britain to choose to stand alone among friends in 2016 is incomprehensible. Is almost 50% of this generation saying they'd rather throw in the towel than tackle the bureaucracy and frustrations of Europe head on? Times sure have changed and their brave ancestors, who were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for Europe, must be spinning in their graves. Who would ever have though that we'd see the day where instead of "fighting them on the beaches and never surrendering", Britain would be standing on the verge of giving up an important fight for change and reform (and essentially renouncing our British values of cooperation, mutual respect and tolerance) because we don't like EU regulations that govern the power of our kettles, the suction power of our vacuum cleaners and the number of fellow Europeans coming to our island? If this is the case then Little Britain will get the bleak future it deserves. Vote to "remain" in the European Union on June 23, and keep Britain Great.

Boris Johnson. For years I backed him as Mayor of London, and enjoyed his apparent eccentricity. Before the start of the referendum campaign I would have supported him as a future successor to Cameron as leader of the Conservatives. But after the past month of campaigning, I see him for what he really is - an opportunistic, xenophobic, nationalist, isolationist who's clearly putting personal ambition before the national interest. Nope. "It'll all be okay and we'll make it up as we go back to the future" is not going to work for me I'm afraid. Pass.

Readers in the UK. On Thursday when you vote, think who and what you are aligning yourself with. If you choose to align yourself with "leave" - which includes a significant proportion of Conservative xenophobes and racists, and all of UKIP and their doctrine of hate - that's fine. But then could I please ask those that feel they're voting "out" purely in pursuit of some form of unbridled liberty and freedom (good grief - that sounds very Haight-Ashbury, doesn't it?) regardless of who’s in that camp to please burn that old libertarian banner and acknowledge your slip to the dark side, and descent into creeping nationalism. Also be aware that some insensitive souls may henceforth brand you a xenophobic, isolationist, navel-gazer by your association with the likes of Farage and his cohorts. Looks like a xenotard, sounds like a xenotard, smells like a xenotard, votes like a xenotard must be a xenotard! Ha-ha! Have a good day everyone and remember, patriots looks outward and forward while nationalists look inward and backwards. We are stronger, safer add better off together. Vote to "remain" in the European Union! Peace :-)

In light of this morning's referendum results, I posted the following short message and video clip:

The country defers to lowest common denominator and elects to become Little England. The tabloids win. Perfidious Albion returns. Farewell pension. Brexit supporters - please let me know when to expect Kristallnacht...



But my old frien K.F. summed it up better than I ever could...

Little Britain has just condemned Great Britain to a path of steady decline to insignificance. I'll bet there are more than a few exit strategies being planned as the intelligentsia and wealthy plan to abandon this sinking ship. I'll bet there will be several million red faces when they soon realize they have been hoodwinked into betraying their children.

A sad day for the world, the European Union, Great Britain, my wife and I, and (most of all) my son. I'm sorry my boy - I did all I could.

Sincerely, MAlfaRK ©

The Referendum & the Descent to Little Britain

At Euro 2016 we've seen flag carrying English jingoism at war with Russian thugs while stunned tourists watched in horror as England fans bellowed out: “F**k off Europe we’re all voting out.” This is probaby a microcosm of the referendum next week that boils down to nationalist isolationism versus cosmopolitan internationalism.

I have spent much of my life working internationally and all of the European friends and former-colleagues with whom I have spoken in recent months would prefer Britain staying in the EU to shape a better Europe together. Thomas Mair, the man who murdered Labour MP (and "remain" campainer) Jo Cox, repeatedly shouted “Britain First!” as he gunned her down in the street yesterday and then stabbed her again and again. These were his only words during the attack - “Britain First!” For those unfamiliar with the organisation, Britain First is a neo-Nazi party thinly disguised. Their aims and opinions are racist, xenophobic, homophobic and nationalist.

Mair is believed to have had long-term links with a hard-right group based in London which had been campaigning for many years for Britain to leave the European Union and was named as a supporter in an online publication of the Springbok Club, an organisation which has defended the white supremacist apartheid regime in South Africa. So, good old South African nationalism (a.k.a. Apartheid) has come home to roost in the campaign to "leave" Europe. Charming.

If "(heaven or) hell is other people", I personally choose to work (and drink a beer or two) together with my European friends in peace rather than sit in a little, flag-draped, north-Atlantic island, waiting alone and friendless for the violent assault of further extremists. And please don't tell me that you still think voting for UKIP and the racist Nigel Farage on June 23 is a good idea.




* With full credit to Toby Woolrych whose original LinkedIn posting I've clearly plagiarised. It was Toby's observations, yesterday's tragic events and this morning's revelations in the media that got me fired up to quickly knock this out.