Only slightly inappropriate

I know, I usually only talk about real words, word that can be found in the dictionary.  However, I learned of a definition from urban dictionary yesterday that had me ROLLING on the floor laughing (hey at least I didn’t pee on myself ;)…then shouting it out after the appropriate occasion:

• turkey bark means Farting after eating turkey

Okay, in my defense, both the word turkey and the word bark ARE in the dictionary…but this is hilarious!

And yes, I’m not ashamed to admit, that I had occasion to use it yesterday as well.  Admit it, if you had known about this phrase you would have used it as well…you know you would!

Now, I know you all have leftover turkey to much on; go eat some and use this phrase!

Happy Thanksgiving

No words today, just a reminder to use your words very carefully as you sit around the table with your family that you may not have seen for years, months, or hours.  You know how heated things get around the table, right?

Well, as I have taught you over the history of this blog, choose your words carefully and feelings won’t get unintentionally hurt…

The INTENTIONAL hurt…well, I can’t do much about that, but maybe you can look through my history and find some big words to use on them.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and, if you shop tomorrow, a safe and prosperous shopping trip!

Wednesday Word Count- 11259

This week’s word:

• glamour as a noun means the quality of fascinating, alluring, or attracting, esp. by a combination of charm and good looks; OR excitement, adventure, and unusual activity; OR magic or enchantment; spell; witchery
• glamour as and adjective means suggestive or full of glamour; glamorous

Now, I don’t know about you, but I do know this word.  Maybe because I grew up just a few hours away from Hollywood and all it’s perceived glamour; although, I think it’s not as glamorous as it used to be back in the day of Doris Day and Lauren Bacall….I think they are probably rolling in the graves at the spectacle that it has become, don’t you?

Anyway, glamour is lost a bit in ALL parts, not just Hollywood, but you could still use it in a sentence in the comments, right?

Horton Hear a Who

I don’t know why I remember it, but I do.  Once back in seventh grade our teacher gave us a long lecture about the difference between to listen and to hear.  Basically, she explained it to mean that one is there are sounds going in but no processing of information; the other was that the sound was taken in and actually mulled over those sounds.

Now, what I remember about that lecture was that it came about because we, as junior high students, were of the former type in the class for that week and she was kind of sick of it.  I think she thought that it would pull us back in line…I don’t know if it worked or not.

What I DON’T remember about it is which was which.  Which was the meaningful kind and which was the sounds-go-in-sounds-go-out kind.  So, after years and years of remembering this lecture and wondering which is which, I FINALLY looked it up!

• listen is a verb that means to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear; OR to pay attention; heed; obey; OR to wait attentively for a sound; OR to convey a particular impression to the hearer; sound; OR  to give ear to; hear
• hear is a verb that means to perceive by the ear; OR to learn by the ear or by being told; be informed of; OR to listen to; give or pay attention to; OR to be among the audience at or of; OR to give a formal, official, or judicial hearing to (something); consider officially, as a judge, sovereign, teacher, or assembly; OR to take or listen to the evidence or testimony of (someone); OR to listen to with favor, assent, or compliance; OR to receive information by the ear or otherwise

Okay, so, listening is passive, hearing is active.  Do you get that, too?  She wanted us to HEAR her, not just listen.

It makes sense to me, how about you? 

I make an effort to really hear people when they talk to me.  It drives me insane when a person is merely “listening” and not actually hearing.  There is a supervisor at work that does this ALL the time and I almost want to hang up on her…I actually think that she wouldn’t know if I did just that.

So, how good are you at hearing?

The Opposite Of Someone

The other day my dear husband had commented on someone’s facebook page and someone else commented about him being the antithesis of a previous employer.  He figured it was a compliment, but wasn’t sure exactly what it meant. 

Not to worry, I looked it up for him!

• antithesis is a noun that means opposition; contrast; OR the direct opposite; OR the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas, as in “Give me liberty or give me death.”; OR A figure of speech in which sharply contrasting ideas are juxtaposed in a balanced or parallel phrase or grammatical structure; OR The second stage of the Hegelian dialectic process, representing the opposite of the thesis

Okay, before you ask, this is NOT a philosophical blog (just incase you needed me to tell you that) and the Hegelian dialectic process is COMPLETELY philosophical…so that’s all you’re going to get from me on THAT topic.

Blunder Results

You were all so correct in this one:

• Fourty children showed up at the mall yesterday fore a visit to Santa’s Village.

First, Fourty should be Forty.

Second, fore should be for.

Last, Wrighty earned some extra points for her comment, “It's too early for kids to be going to Santa's Village!”

You are so right.  So very, very correct.  Good thing I just totally made this one up on my own, right?

Saturday Symbol-Ampersand

This week we are going to talk about the Ampersand.  That’s a really fun word, isn’t it?  It’s also very fun to look at but very hard to make.

I have played piano ever since I was 7 years old.  I can make a Treble Clef very easily.  It wasn’t until about a year ago that I figured out that this is almost exactly like that so why couldn’t I make it myself?

It still never turns out exactly right, but it’s still fun to make.

Oh, just in case you didn’t know, the ampersand stand for and.  It actually dates way back to the first century AD and was the letters e and t written together.  If you squint and tilt your head, you can kind of see it, can’t you?  No?  Just me then?  Okay.

But, when handwritten the way most people do, as a plus sign with a fancy look or a t with a fancy loop, then it REALLY looks like and e and t.

The ampersand is typically used in business names and fancy writing, but it is gaining popularity again through text messaging.  It can be used to mean and, or it’s sound.  For example, I can text pl& and people know I mean planned.

Oh, and of course, computer programming also uses this symbol a lot.

What do you think of the ampersand?