The New Expletive
September 10, 2020
Hello, again, Gentle Reader(s?),
Yes, it’s time, once again, for you to make a decision on whether or not to continue reading a post from me. I’ll give you a minute to decide…
…
…
Still here? OK! We shall proceed.
Let’s take a moment to review this year…
Never mind – let’s not.
All in all, though, a pretty tough year for ALL of us, and it is hard to come up with something positive to say about this year.
But, as some of you may suspect, I try to be positive in any situation (we are currently engulfed by smoke and ashes, just a little less than a mile from the “evacuation warning” perimeter made possible by the Creek Fire, here in the Sierra Mountains).
In my efforts to find something positive to say about the entire year, I have come up with this…
Many of us are familiar with bad words. Some of them are really nasty. You may even remember my previous post on “Alternative Cuss Words“. And I would venture to guess that you remember that now-famous line, uttered by Ralphie, from the movie, A Christmas Story” (One of my top two favorite films of all time)…
Well, I have, I believe, come up with a new and even BETTER “THE word. The BIG one. The QUEEN MOTHER of dirty words. The 2- – – word.”
Yes, that’s right. Those of us who abhor hearing or reading the “f- – -“, or “s- – -” or “(input your – – – -‘s here) words in everyday speech and correspondence may now have a chance to NOT hear or read those – – – -s.
Think of the possibilities:
“Ooooh twweeeennnntttyyy-nnniiiiinnnnnneteeeeeeennnnn! Only I didn’t say nineteen.”
“Well, we sure 2- – -‘d that up!”
Then, of course, there’s the famous greeting,
“Hey, m- – – – -2- – -“!
See? You can always find something positive in just about any situation. Even if nobody agrees with you…
Really, though, take care, be safe, and look for the positive – even though it’s well hidden, it’s there…
Honest…
BK
The linguist Me – 2: What If There Was No Such Thing As Language?
November 30, 2019
Hello, Again, Gentle Reader(s?),
Yes, it is, once again, time for another lesson in the magnificent world of… Language…
Language is, to me, anyway, an interesting thing. Just think of all the things we could not do without Language. (For your benefit, I have provided a partial list of those things below.)
- Talk
- Listen to somebody talking
- Get mad at somebody for something they said
- Get mad at somebody for something they didn’t say but should have said
- Put in your earbuds and turn up the music when somebody obnoxious walks into the room
- Write a letter, a note, an email or even a text message
- Receive unsolicited sales calls
- And, possibly, the most tragic consequence of all, you would not be reading this blog po
