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Sing it like you know what you're saying

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 31, 2006

You know Auld Lang Syne, that song they always sing at midnight on New Year's? No, do you know it? Or do you just mumble it? A survey in Britain found that even there only 6 percent of people claim to be able to sing it confidently. And 78 percent straight-up admit they just act a little more drunk or otherwise inarticulate than they really are. So, as a reader service, here are the lyrics to the first verse and the chorus. There are four more verses after that, but there is really no need to know them:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,

For auld lang syne!

Oh, and one other thing, "auld lang syne" translates to "times gone by."

What's important to the bay area

Here's how readers at tampabay.com ranked the Associated Press' Top 10 stories of the year:

1. Democrats sweep Congress. 37 percent

2. Scandals in Congress: Mark Foley, Randy Cunningham, Tom Delay, Bob Ney forced out. 17 percent

3. Immigration. 11 percent

4. North Korea and Iran nukes. 8 percent

5. Iraq. 6 percent

6. Hussein convicted. 6 percent (poll ended before Hussein was executed).

7. Donald Rumsfeld resigns. 4 percent

8. Mideast fighting in southern Lebanon. 4 percent

9. Civil war in Darfur. 4 percent

10. Airline terror plot thwarted. 3 percent

Notable newsmakers who died in 2006

Coretta Scott King, 78. Civil rights leader; wife of Martin Luther King Jr. Jan. 30.

Slobodan Milosevic, 64. Former Yugoslav dictator. March 11.

Caspar W. Weinberger, 88. President Reagan's defense secretary. March 28.

Lloyd Bentsen, 85. Former Treasury secretary, 1988 vice presidential candidate. May 23.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, 39. Leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. June 7.

Patsy Ramsey, 49. Mother of JonBenet. June 24.

Kenneth Lay, 64. Enron founder. July 5.

Ann Richards, 73. Former Texas governor. Sept. 13.

P.W. Botha, 90. Apartheid-era South African president. Oct. 31.

Ed Bradley, 65. TV journalist on 60 Minutes. Nov. 9.

Milton Friedman, 94. Nobel-winning economist. Nov. 16.

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, 80. First female U.S. ambassador to U.N. Dec. 7.

Gen. Augusto Pinochet, 91. Chilean leader who terrorized opponents. Dec. 10.

Gerald Ford, 93. The nation's 38th president. Dec. 26.

Saddam Hussein, 69. Iraqi dictator convicted of crimes against humanity. Dec. 31.

[Last modified December 31, 2006, 00:33:29]