June '18

The Supreme Sock Council fashioned a sock out of bamboo yarn for the fourth summer in a row. Hubert Ponožka, the Sock Secretery, had initially devoted the letter to describing the great tradition of these bamboo yarn properties, with a special focus on the material’s airiness and content of natural antibacterial agents, which render the sock ideal for these hot summer days. What a surprise it was when we found out we had misused the word “tradition”. Etymologically, it comes from the Latin “trado”, meaning “to pass on”. Tradition thus refers to the transfer of a custom from one generation to another. That means four years are not enough to establish a tradition in the true sense of the word, since the human reproductive cycle is longer and still extending. While in the early 1990’s, the average age of Czech women in labor was 25 years old, today that number is 30. In order to be able to call our mission a tradition, we will have to wait another 26 years, more or less… Luckily, dubbing our efforts a tradition or failing to do so will not influence the excellent properties of bamboo. While it would not be correct to wish you a traditional bamboo June, we fell that we may take the liberty of wishing you an airy month. No etymological rules can prevent that.