Word Up!

It's Saturday. I stayed up too late last night watching a movie on TV, so it was delicious to wake up slowly this morning to the sounds of a train horn in the distance. Especially in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees to muffle the lonesome-sounding trains, it is as if they were very close by and I much prefer it to an alarm clock. My thoughts soon drift to my blog, wondering if anyone of my favorites has written anything, so here I am.

My Mike was always after me to write a book so we would have enough money for him to retire. My standard reply was, "What would I write about? I know nothing!" At least not well enough to write about it. When I was young, I wanted to be an actor. (That might explain why I derive such pleasure from movies still today) Then I looked into becoming a flight attendant (I enjoy learning about other lands and people, but am uneasy about leaving the country) I even fancied myself a writer, but suffered with an intestinal problem ... no guts! With the written word, it is so easy to be misunderstood. Even when writing letters to friends and family, I have unintentionally offended people with my warped sense of humor.

With this blog though, I am not presenting my thoughts to anyone in particular and I have not asked anyone to buy them. Still, I worry about the scrutiny. My two favorite words concerning blogging are "edit post". Even my beloved children circle like vultures, scouring for the least grammatical error ~ a misspelled word, a redundant comma, etc. I subject myself to that peril because living alone, I grow weary of talking to myself and besides, I love words!

Perhaps I inherited that from my mother who was self-educated beyond the eighth grade. Catholic school ended there and only the males in her family were allowed to further their education. The females were required to find work and contribute to the family of twelve children. Resentful but determined, Mother compensated by reading. She had a love affair with books, even the ones she never got around to reading. She also loved crossword puzzles and could not be beaten in a Scrabble game. I played her only once. Too cut-throat for me, but I did learn a lot about the love of vocabulary from her. Three things that come to mind about my mother are 1) Don't wash your hands in the kitchen sink. "We have bathrooms for that", she would say. 2) Men should not wear hats (or baseball caps) in the house and heaven forbid at the dinner table, in a restaurant or even in someone else's home.
3) Should you mispronounce or misuse a word, she would call you on it.

One of the most fun things about hanging out with grandchildren is being there when they are learning to expand their vocabulary. Brennan (4) cuts to the chase when you tell him" thank you", responding with a prompt "y'elcome" (you're welcome). No point is using two or three words when just one of your own will do.  The stuffed animal on his bed is an armadillo, not an "armajello". When he and Ella (5) clink their glasses together for a toast, in unison they quip "cheerleaders" (meaning "cheers"). The other day Ella was talking about hanging her towel up on the towel racket. (rack) Hands down, my favorite is the cross between "under arms" and "arm pits". When I tickle them in their "underpits", while singing to the tune of "Wonder Pets". . . . "underpits, underpits, who save the day" . . . the result is high pitched laughter. Occasionally I forget that underpits is not a real word.

When my children were much younger, Aaron reported (not tattled) by spelling out that Jennifer was saying "C- A -R- P!!" The misspelling of the word resulted in a family tradition. So today, in our family, when we are tempted to say a crude word, we just say carp (like the fish) instead. Aaron reminds me that if we are using a substitute word (like freakin'), that we may as well say the real word. It does sound suspiciously like something I may have told him (a hundred times), but as I mature, I've come to realize not all that I thought was wisdom, was wise. Apparently, I prefer the substitute words. For instance, the quickest way to ruin a movie for me, is to clutter it up with gutter talk. It is never, I repeat, never ever necessary. Even if it's about the gutter. I have an imagination and I'm not afraid to use it.