November 2001

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

Samuel Johnson, lexicographer

(1709-1784)

Thursday November 1, 1999

...I had to postpone my Dermatology appointment... Sandy Rountree is going to spend a few days with us... she needed a place to stay for a few days while she looks for an apartment... Sooo... First... Christy and I cleaned, then Christy took Cindy to school and took off to Temecula to get Sandy... I:

	Took kids to school
	Took Autumn to Therapy in Palmdale
	Took Autumn to school
	Took Mike to therapy in Saugus
	Picked up triplicate prescriptions from Dr. D.

<Asside>

There is a sign on office door that was done on a PC in some sort of a Poster font, It said:

PLEASE WAIT FOR THE THERAPIST TO CALL YOU

The kerning on the E and the R were not compatible and it looked like;

PLEASE WAIT FOR THE THE RAPIST TO CALL YOU

Cracked me up...

	I went back to pick up Mike and we went home to clean some more. We worked on the house and the motorhome... The batteries were dead... the new batteries that I bought last year were bone dry... pissed me off... the kids have been using it like a play house... grrrr.
	At two I picked up The kids from school...

Christy just told me about where Sandy was living... She was in tears... Sandy has been living in a 10 foot trailer... no electricity... no water... she is 60+ years old, arthritis... holes in the floor, a skunk crawls in and out... they forgot about her for 18 days last winter, she almost died... Lumpy said... "I would have eaten the skunk and the parakeet."

I was thinking about our culture, we call ourselves civilized but I think that's a stretch... it seems from my perspective to be a well regulated society but if we were truly civilized then we wouldn't need to be so regulated...

I read a series of emails from folks in other countries complaining about American English...

	Dropping the "u" from colour, behaviour, humour, favour, neighbour etc,
	"presently" has always meant "in a little while", "later on", but increasingly it has come to mean "now", "at this moment", as in "presently house prices are rising."
	"one hundred twenty" instead of "one hundred and twenty"
	"they will meet Tuesday" instead of "they will meet on Tuesday"
	The horrendous "in back of" instead of "behind".
	From a radio ad exhorting us to take part in the current census: "fill out your form" instead of "fill in your form".

I find it a little irritating... linguaphiles quibble about this sort of stuff as though it mattered... it really doesn't, words are the most wonderful things in the world, they change and morph and get lost and rediscovered all the time... words are tools... or better, the nuts and bolts of communication, if we start getting all elitist about correctness of usage and spelling we lose sight of the fact that the whole point is to communicate... even if we screw up occasionally we need to loosen up a little and try to understand what's being said not how it's being said...

From the same article...

A friend traveled to NYC and reported how changed was much 'typical NYC behavior--not as surly, more polite driving, etc. Indeed, he heard an aggressive driver's behavior described as "so 9/10".

Friday November 2, 2000

... Well, Sandy seems to enjoy the Motor Monster... Christy is going to ask her to continue to use it till she gets her apartment... there is no way Christy will let her go back to that shack...

Saturday November 3, 2000

...Sandy slept in Calie's room... there is a leak in back of the toilet... I will try to fix it Monday.

Christy took Mike, Christian, Calie and Autumn to church... Mike went of his own volition... amazing... I had "B", Cindy and DaMoke... "B" can't cut it at Church, he just stands up in the middle of the service and says "This is stupid... I'm bored" and walks out... little bugger has no inhibitions...

I had to go to Wal-Mart to buy some presents for Cindy to take to a birthday party at noon, I took all three kids... As I was checking out, "B" said; "I have to go to the bathroom." I checked out and went to look for him... I saw him walking back through the music department... Bathroom is in the shoe department. He came over to me. I had forgotten to get cat litter and had to check out again... I had to make a deposit at Albertson's so I went there next, just as I was about to get out of the car Mike called and asked me to pick him up at the church...I made the deposit and picked up Mike... "B" begged Mike to sit in back with him... Mike said No... "B" said I have something to show you... Mike said What "B" said I have a new trick... Mike said What, show me... "B" handed a CD to Mokie, to give to Mike... Mike said I don't like this kind of music (Lil' Romeo, a preeteen rapper) Suddenly it all came together, I said; "Let me see that CD"... It still had the tape on it but the wrapper had been removed, it had never been opened... Mike said, "Where did you get it "B""... he said; "A friend gave it to me..." "B" boosted that CD from Wal-Mart, right under my nose... he doesn't even give a damn. I am really getting fed up...

"B" just wants to impress Mike...

Sunday November 4, 2001

...Monica woke up with a stiff neck... a bad one. She was just screaming... poor baby has never had a stiff neck before...

Packers finally pulled one out of the embers...

Good and Bad News Dept.

The good news is the air drops of food to Afghanistan will continue. The bad news, announced by Gen. Richard B. Meyers: "It is unfortunate that the (unexploded) cluster bombs are the same color as the food packets." You can't win them all. Fortunately we will be dropping leaflets, (even written in Afghani), to explain the problem.. Finally, we'll have a foolproof means to determine literacy rates in a primitive country.

(Department of Defense News Briefing, 11/1/01)

More of this sort of stuff at American Newspeak

Christy took Calie and Cindy and went to a birthday party for an elderly person, I expected her home at about noon.. She had apparently told me she had a meeting at church at 1600... it is now 18:45... Jets are beating the Saints...

Hit Counter