DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. 
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First up this week: Rumbustious … 
Merriam-Webster: "alteration (probably influenced by rumble) of robustious … First Known Use: circa 1777."
I'm much more likely to use the word "rambunctious" (a younger word meaning unruly, outrageous in behavior, and over-exuberant). But I'm charmed that rumbustious was coined so soon after the landmark US year 1776. It feels as if the English might have thought, "drat those rascally, rumbustious colonists!" I'm concerned, however, that were I to replace rambunctious with rumbustious those listening or reading might not know what I was talking about. Still, adding distinctive, interesting, and unusual words to my vocabulary is desirable. After all, I aspire to be distinctive, interesting, and unusual. 

Second up this week, Rumpelstiltskin … 
You know the story. Its roots are 4,000 years old. A miller's daughter is required by the king to spin straw into gold. A goblin appears who does so for her, at an ever-increasing price. Discovering and revealing the goblin's name (Rumpelstiltskin, duh) ultimately saves her first-born child from his grasp. 
"The name Rumpelstilzchen in German means literally "little rattle stilt", a stilt being a post or pole that provides support for a structure. A rumpelstilt or rumpelstilz was consequently the name of a type of goblin, also called a pophart or poppart, that makes noises by rattling posts and rapping on planks." (Wikipedia)
Why am I writing about Rumpelstiltskin? Because the other two of the three subjects in this letter came first. I thought, "What would be another interesting R word? Ah! Rumpelstiltskin!" That's my reason, if not a good one. 

Third up this week, Ralph Roister Doister … 
It's the name of a play, one of the first comedies written in English. It's a five-act (typical when it was first performed) written by Nicholas Udall, a schoolmaster. Christian Custance, a wealthy widow, is engaged to Gawyn Goodluck, a merchant. Encouraged by the trickster Matthew Merrygreeke, Ralph Roister Doister woos Widow Custance. After failing in this, Ralph tries to take the widow by force. In this, too, he fails. Her fiance appears and there is a joyous reconciliation. The play ends with a prayer and song. Did the play precede the arrival of the word "roister" (boor, lout, rude, rough)? I don't know, but both word and play appeared on the scene around the same time. 

A Timely Memoir … 
Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World, by Christian Cooper 
This is an enjoyable memoir. I'm not usually a memoir reader, but the mix of Cooper's growing up gay and black, his passion for birding (in which I'm developing an interest) and culminating in the strange cultural moment when he confronts a white woman with an off-leash dog in New York's Central Park is compelling. Cooper's grace dealing with the aftermath of that terrible racial incident made me want to be a better person. 
"On Memorial Day 2020, Cooper was bird-watching in Central Park when he asked a dog walker to comply with the park's rules and leash her dog. Her angry response prompted him to video the interaction on his phone—including her call to the police claiming that 'there's an African American man threatening my life.' Posted by one of Cooper's friends, the video ignited a 'firestorm of attention.' That racist incident brackets the author’s engaging debut memoir chronicling his transformation from a nerdy kid on Long Island in the late 1960s, who confessed that he was gay only to one friend, into a Black, queer activist who revels in bird-watching … Candid reflections from an appealing guide to the birding life." (Kirkus Reviews) 


And a bit more … 

"Straw into gold", by Glynn Young

Can you spin
straw into gold,
straw into gold, a boast
becomes a lie, a lie
becomes a request,
becomes a promise,
becomes an agony

the tales we spin
golden
the straw we spin
golden, or not

watching as he spins
madly, the wheel turning,
a game of roulette played
and forgotten until
the croupier demands his due

unless the name is forthcoming
unless the name is known and spoken
speaking the name dispels enchantment
naming the one breaks the hold

just a name, spinning fool's gold
back to straw.


And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver's "Sometimes"

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.