The Umbrella

Today my umbrella died. It had been ailing for a while; its joints and spokes were bent from fatigue and the burden of fighting the elements for many years. In one last furious storm, it snapped a spoke, bust a rivet, and gave up the ghost.

The word 'umbrella' is actually a diminutive. It comes from a word which should be familiar to any physics (well, optics) student. When you study eclipses, you learn about the umbra, or 'shadow', and the penumbra, or 'almost-shadow'. An umbrella is a smaller umbra, a portable shade.

Well, ombra mai fù, as old Xerxes used to say.