The Teddy Bear essays

The Teddy Bear essays There are many variations of the story explaining the origin of the teddy bear. Some believe it was completely a German creation. Others believe it was American. Some say it was a combination of the two. Still, others think it started in England. The first story is that of Margarete Steiff, a woman born in Giengen, Germany in 1847. When she was only two, she contracted polio and spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair (Margarete). That didn't stop her from being productive. She loved children and they visited her often (The). One day, she noticed a pattern in a magazine for a toy elephant. She started making a few elephants and gave them as gifts to friends and neighbors. Childrem loved it! Then, she started making other animals like a poodle, a bear, and a donkey (Margarete). Her nephew, Richard had been fascinated with bears. He had been watching a family of brown bears at Nills Animal show and sketching their antics for his aunt (Origin). He also helped her with designing her stuffed bears. In 1903, he brought some of her bears to the famous Leipzig fair (Margarete). This is where the story would end for one who believed the bear's origins were only in Germany. But, on the last day of the fair, a man named Hermann Berg, a buyer from a New York firm called Geo Borgfeldt went to the Steiff stand. He'd been complaining that there was nothing new at the fair. Then, he saw the bear and knew there'd be a market for it in the U.S. He placed an order for 3,000 bears (Margarete). That very year, Theodore Roosevelt, (known as "Teddy" to close friends), had gone to the backwoods of Mississippi hunting for bears. Several days passed and he and the rest of the expedition hadn't caught a bear. The guide then found a little bear cub in the brush and presented it to the President. He refused to kill it and ...

Scottish Surnames Meanings and Origins

Scottish Surnames Meanings and Origins Scottish surnames as we know them today - family names passed down intact from father to son to grandson - were first introduced into Scotland by the Normans about the year 1100. Such hereditary names were not universally prevalent and settled, however. The use of fixed Scottish surnames (last names that didnt change with each generation) wasnt really in prevalent use until the 16th century, and it was well into the late 18th century before surnames were common in the Highlands and northern isles. Origins of Scottish Surnames Surnames in Scotland generally developed from four major sources: Geographical or Local Surnames - These are names derived from the location of the homestead from which the first bearer and his family lived, and are generally the most common origin of Scottish surnames. Most of the earliest people in Scotland to adopt fixed surnames were the nobles and great landowners, who were often called by the land they possessed (e.g. William de Buchan from Buchan, Scotland). Eventually, even those who did not own significant land started to use place names to identify themselves from others of the same name, adopting the name of the village or even the street where the family originated. Tenants often took their name from the estate where they lived. Thus, most of the earliest surnames in Scotland were derived from place names. Topographic surnames derived from vague geographical locations rather than specific places, also fall into this category. These names may refer to physical features such as streams (Burns), moors (Muir) or forests (Wood) or to man-mad e structures, such as a castle or a mill (Milne). Occupational Surnames -   Many Scottish surnames developed from a persons job or trade. Three common Scottish surnames -   Smith (blacksmith), Stewart (steward) and Taylor (tailor) - are excellent examples of this. Offices associated with the kings lands and/or hunting are another common source of Scottish occupational names - names such as Woodward, Hunter,  and Forest.Descriptive Surnames -   Based on a unique quality or physical feature of the individual, these surnames often developed from nicknames or pet names. Most refer to an individuals appearance - color, complexion, or physical shape  - such as Campbell (from  caimbeul, meaning crooked mouth), Duff (Gaelic for dark) and Fairbain (beautiful child). A descriptive surname may also refer to an individuals personality or moral characteristics, such as Godard (good natured) and Hardie (bold or daring).Patronymic and Matronymic Surnames -   These are surnames derived from baptismal or Christian names to indicate family relationship or descent. Some baptismal or given names have become surnames without any change in form. Others added a prefix or an ending. The use of Mac and Mc was prevalent throughout Scotland, but especially in the Highlands, to indicate son of (e.g. Mackenzie, son of Coinneach/Kenneth). In lowland Scotland, the suffix ​-   son was more commonly added to the fathers given name to form a patronymic surname. These true patronymic surnames changed with each successive generation. Thus, Roberts son, John, might become known as John Robertson. Johns son, Mangus, would then be called Mangus Johnson, and so on. This true patronymic naming practice continued in most families until at least the fifteenth or sixteenth century before a family name was eventually adopted that passed down unchanged from father to son. Scottish Clan Names Scottish clans, from the Gaelic clann, meaning family, provided a formal structure for extended families of shared descent. Clans each identified with a geographical area, usually an ancestral castle, and were originally controlled by a Clan Chief, officially registered with the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which controls heraldry and Coat of Arms registration in Scotland. Historically, a clan was made up of everyone who lived on the chiefs territory, people for which he was responsible and who, in turn, owed allegiance to the chief. Thus, not everyone in a clan was genetically related to one another, nor did all members of a clan bear a single surname. Scottish Surnames - Meanings Origins Anderson, Campbell, MacDonald, Scott, Smith, Stewart... Are you one of the millions of people sporting one of these top 100 common Scottish last names? If so, then youll want to check out our list of the most commonly occurring surnames in Scotland, including details on each names origin, meaning, and alternate spellings.   TOP 100 COMMON SCOTTISH SURNAMES THEIR MEANINGS 1. SMITH 51. RUSSELL 2. BROWN 52. MURPHY 3. WILSON 53. HUGHES 4. CAMPBELL 54. WRIGHT 5. STEWART 55. SUTHERLAND 6. ROBERTSON 56. GIBSON 7. THOMPSON 57. GORDON 8. ANDERSON 58. WOOD 9. REID 59. BURNS 10. MACDONALD 60. CRAIG 11. SCOTT 61. CUNNINGHAM 12. MURRAY 62. WILLIAMS 13. TAYLOR 63. MILNE 14. CLARK 64. JOHNSTONE 15. WALKER 65. STEVENSON 16. MITCHELL 66. MUIR 17. YOUNG 67. WILLIAMSON 18. ROSS 68. MUNRO 19. WATSON 69. MCKAY 20. GRAHAM 70. BRUCE 21. MCDONALD 71. MCKENZIE 22. HENDERSON 72. WHITE 23. PATERSON 73. MILLAR 24. MORRISON 74. DOUGLAS 25. MILLER 75. SINCLAIR 26. DAVIDSON 76. RITCHIE 27. GRAY 77. DOCHERTY 28. FRASER 78. FLEMING 29. MARTIN 79. MCMILLAN 30. KERR 80. WATT 31. HAMILTON 81. BOYLE 32. CAMERON 82. CRAWFORD 33. KELLY 83. MCGREGOR 34. JOHNSTON 84. JACKSON 35. DUNCAN 85. HILL 36. FERGUSON 86. SHAW 37. HUNTER 87. CHRISTIE 38. SIMPSON 88. KING 39. ALLAN 89. MOORE 40. BELL 90. MACLEAN 41. GRANT 91. AITKEN 42. MACKENZIE 92. LINDSAY 43. MCLEAN 93. CURRIE 44. MACLEOD 94. DICKSON 45. MACKAY 95. GREEN 46. JONES 96. MCLAUGHLIN 47. WALLACE 97. JAMIESON 48. BLACK 98. WHYTE 49. MARSHALL 99. MCINTOSH 50. KENNEDY 100. WARD Source: National Records of Scotland - Most Common Surnames, 2014

Strategic Choice and Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Strategic Choice and Analysis - Assignment Example Stephen Haines' Centre for Strategic Management has built a new strategic planning system based on systems thinking and calls it the 21st Century Yearly Strategic Management System and Cycle. This system moves beyond planning into implementation. It includes a Plan-to-Plan phase and a Plan-to-Implement phase. The steps include team building and leadership skill building as part of the planning. It also includes a parallel process whereby all key stakeholders are involved based on the premise that 'People support what they help create'. This process starts with a Futuristic Environmental Scan and defines the ideal vision in terms of mission, values and end outcomes that the organization wishes to set for itself. Only after the statement of such Ideal Future a Current State assessment based on SWOT is taken up to identify the gaps and make strategies to close the gap.As a result of their clients adopting this model, it was found that clients began developing the competitive edge and th e organization was much clearer on what their competitive "positioning" in market place was and found themselves moving positively in that direction, to the delight of their customers.(Haines,2004).Thus this process leans directly into the process of competitive strategy making as it includes environmental scan both-present and future and enables movement in the desired direction. However this system's parallel process is a very critical aspect and strategic management literature has a common view that good strategies grow out of ideas that have been floating around the firm, and initiatives that have been taken by all sorts of people in the firm. This resource must be drawn upon as frequently as required even in competitive strategy making. Thus a company's competitive strategy would concern primarily with its actions and plans for competing successfully - its specific and focused efforts to please clients, its offensive and defensive maneuvers to counter similar efforts of rivals, its responses to prevailing market conditions, and its initiatives to strengthen and improve its market position. Types of Competitive Strategies The generic competitive strategies and their standard objectives have been given in numerous strategic management literatures to include the following: (a) Overall Low-Cost Leadership Strategy: Its primary object is to find a sustainable cost advantage over rivals, using lower-cost edge as a basis either to under-price rivals and reap market share gains or earn higher profit margin by selling at going price. (b) Broad Differentiation Strategy: Its primary objective is to incorporate differentiating features that cause buyers to prefer firm's product or service over rival brands. Looking on the obverse side it implies that an organization must find ways to differentiate that create value for buyers and that such ways should not be amenable to easy copying and matching by rivals. An important differentiation strategy is not to spend more than the chargeable price premium, ever to achieve differentiation. This is in fact the theoretical