Random Thoughts From Sula
- Meagher County (pronounced "Marr") in central Montana was named after Thomas Meagher, a fiery Irish patriot who became acting governor of Montana Territory. According to a least one source, you're supposed to say "Marr" with a touch of Irish brogue, but I don't know how to pull off an Irish brogue, so I say it like a pirate.
- What is it about fire and water (rivers, lakes, the ocean) that make us sit and stare at them?
- According to legend the term "peeping tom" comes from a tailor named Tom who peeked out of his shutters when Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry to get her husband Leofric to reduce taxes. There's a lot going on in that sentence.
- I'm probably not saying it correctly, but sometimes when no one is listening I like to say joie de vivre. That's another expression you can never use in conversation without sounding pretentious.
- I'm always confused when people say someone lives at home, as in "He still lives at home" (usually said derisively). Doesn't everyone live at home (except the homeless)?
I SO SO SO love Random Thoughts From Sula - they are always the best posts!
ReplyDeleteAnother pretentious word: vis-a-vis. Just don't use it!
Go Rangers!
Thanks, Penni. Random thoughts are fun. I'd do it more often if I could, but I can't force them. I just have to keep track of them as they occur to me and then do a post when I have four or five that I like.
ReplyDeleteVis-a-vis is pretentious, and it's not even fun to say.
Rangers in the ALCS! But please, don't anybody say "Claw and antlers, baby." That sounds like George Costanza.
Hello Cliff and Penni!
ReplyDeleteYou have to have a "certain je ne sais quoi" to say joie de vivre. But if you said it like a pirate, that might be okay. How about "leveraged" and "metrics" and all those words that lawyers use when they mean something very simple, but want to make everyone feel stupid?
LDB
That's awesome, LDB! I said "joie de vivre" like a pirate and cracked myself up. I'll be walking around sounding like Jean Lafitte the rest of the day.
ReplyDeleteLawyers . . . The good ones make complicated things sound simple. The ones that make simple things sound complicated are pompous windbags. Arrrrrrgh!