Remember when oil companies were cool and had pegasus logos and gave away Melmac dishes and used ad slogans that inspired blues songs laden with sexual innuendo? Oh wait; oil companies have never been cool. Still…
Those were pretty cool.
Just ask the old lady who swallowed a fly
Because similar plans worked so well with:
the organizers of some Commonwealth Games sports thingy in Delhi are planning to get rid of their rhesus monkey pest problem in the athletes’ village by employing a bunch of bigger monkeys to scare them away. Please pass the popcorn; this should be entertaining.
Photo via Reuters
Word of the day for Monday, September 27th
Today is much too hot a day for me to be learning about
but I guess it’s too late to do anything about that now. Verlan is a form of French slang which features an inversion of syllables in a word. An example of verlan would be “mefu” (“may foo”) instead of “fumer” (“foo may”).
Another example of verlan is… verlan. “Verlan” is the inverted syllable version of l’envers, which means… inversion. Am I the only person getting confused by this?
Etiquette & superstition: rings
I’m reading on snopes.com that the whole legend about the “ring around the rosie” rhyme being a macabre song about the Black Plague is a bunch of hogwash. This has been a mythbusting weekend, I tell you; first I learn that Billy Squier is not gay (I could have sworn he came out about ten years ago), and now this ring around the rosie business. What will I learn next?
ETIQUETTE: A divorced woman may continue to wear both her wedding and engagement rings as jewelry, provided she wears them on her right hand. The more showy engagement ring may be worn as a cocktail ring, and the wedding band can be used as a guard ring worn in front of another ring in order to keep that ring from slipping.
SUPERSTITION: Wearing a ring can ward off certain diseases. A churchgoer may get a curative ring by collecting pennies at the entrance of the church, circling around the communion table three times, and then depending upon the kindness of the clergyman, who will hopefully trade the pennies for a piece of silver taken from the offertory. This silver is then supposed to be taken to a silversmith to make a ring.
The plague, while a more serious disease than rheumatism, can be warded off by a special ring acquired more simply. Simply engrave a ring with the names of Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus and you’ll be fine.
Photo by MetalRiot on flickr
Silly goose
Where have I been all week? Oh, you know, it’s autumn. I guess I’ve been spending a little too much time with my friends Harriet Carter, Lillian Vernon, and Miles Kimball browsing the apothecary section of the Vermont Country Store. Maybe it’s time to put down the catalogs and enjoy a Saturday morning cartoon.
Thanks for the time of year reminder, Steph. Are you wearing your comfort-legs?
Happy hazard
I’m not trusting my online language translator today. First it’s telling me that the title of this song means “haphazard” in English, and then it’s giving me these lyrics:
In your eyes I read one day
If you look at me keep me
swear
I have great love leaves
So give yourself
Belle When you kill me
with an air hug
you one tiny voice myself humming this tune .. .
Heart to heart
hand in hand
through life we had not big giant
Belle ca not smart yet few hundred years
and we will kill me
Beautiful AC To imagine
any old and humpbacked
So many, so I was mumbling …
Actually, maybe those are the words…
One mean zucchini
I’m not a fan of pencils, and I’m not a fan of saxophones, but Jerry here (Jerry’s the short one, right? Jerry’s always the short one) is making me rethink my position.
A nice shower
I’ve finally found a good video of humans and monkeys working together that doesn’t have a feeling of exploitation about it (though your results may vary). This guy is pretty smart being nice to his companion; it’s probably not a good idea to piss off someone who can bean you in the head with a coconut.
via metafilter
Shoe wheel drive
Madamjujujive has done it again. Just when I’m bewailing my lot whilst looking at my fall wardrobe, she comes in and provides me with a suggestions for a new pair of Oxfords. Thank you, mjjj. I can practically reinvent myself with something like this in my closet:
Word of the day for Tuesday, September 14th
Should I trust an online definition of a word if the definition is misspelled? Normally I wouldn’t, but normally I don’t run into such a fabulous word that only seems to be defined on dodgy-looking websites:
Crustulum is latin for a pastry, small cake, or cookie. That’s good enough for me.
Thanks for pointing this word out to me, Torco the Clown. Now, to find me a tall glass of lac…
