Some interesting ditties

"Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar." -Edward R. Murrow

"Suspense is like a woman; the more left to the imagination, the more the excitement." -Alfred Hitchcock

"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it." - Mark Twain

"If we cannot be our brother's keeper, at least let us not be his executioner." -Marlon Brando

"All that we can take with us is that which we've given away." - It's a Wonderful Life

"One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

Work and words

Today at work, Nancy and I are planning all of the music for our VBS programs this summer - I'm doing the PowerPoints of the lyrics and she's making up actions for the songs. She was reading over this one song and said, "these lyrics suck. What does being invincible have to do with Jesus?" to which I responded, "you do know what 'invincible' means, right?" She answered, "of course I do - it means you can't see him!" This is why I love working with her.

Our office also looks like a jungle. We weren't too pleased on Monday when we had to rip out carpets and empty the sanctuary for the painters because we were dressed all pretty and were already stressed about what we were supposed to be doing - plus, the lack of gloves when we were getting rid of the carpet made us pretty typically female and catty. Our solution was to move all the plants from the sanctuary into our office temporarily, instead of putting them into storage. It looks pretty ridiculous, not going to lie.


Random and unrelated conclusion to this post.... here are my three favorite words:

-Euphemism - the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.
-Relapse - this is the name I sign off with when I wheatpaste or spray around Delta
-Interstate - it was in a line from a Death Cab song, I think it's interesting

Grey's

Grey's is back on (!!!) and it was super good - as always, there were lots of great quotes, but I liked this one best: "You were in a lion fight. Just because you didn't win doesn't mean you don't know how to roar." I don't really know what it is about it, maybe I equate 'lion fight' with 'life,' but it made me feel a lot better than I have in weeks.

Alas!

a·las - (interjection) - used as an exclamation to express sorrow, grief, pity, concern, or apprehension of evil. (from www.dictionary.com)

I like this word; other unrealistic people like this word. This is because nobody actually uses 'alas' seriously in real life - not now, not ever. Sometimes, it can be found in text, and those texts more than often are from before the twentieth century. The funny thing is, nobody seriously used 'alas' then either! It's survived centuries because it's a super neat word that nobody uses and I find this a little absurd. Think of how we generally express sorrow or concern or apprehension: are the words we typically use as cool as 'alas'? I think not! 'Alas' is classy and sophisticated, and when I observe the general public, most people are not classy and sophisticated, and I think much of this can be attributed to limited vocabularies.

Therefore, I propose that we start using 'alas' - I'm going to bring it back the same way Justin brought sexy back. That's a pretty big deal.


Alas, I have to write an Education paper, edit an American lit paper, and read "Billy Budd" by Melville, so I need to stop blogging. Alas, my last post was about words so I'll probably refrain from more of these vocabulary-shenanigans in the near future. Alas, it's sunny and I have a migrane and now my eyes hurt, so I can't even use the weather as an excuse to not do my work.

Alas, alas, alas!

Fun new words

Whenever I'm heavily into my schoolwork, I post a lot more. I think the appropriate term for this is "escapism."

I'm writing a paper on "The Imp of the Perverse" by Edgar Allan Poe, but I'm not posting to talk about it or recommend it - in fact, I don't particularly recommend it: I find it interesting but I'm also an English major and that's probably the sole reason why. However, what I DO want to talk about is Poe's language - I have never so heavily relied on dictionary.com when reading a text before! I love learning new words and then casually throwing them into conversation; I am easily and nerdily entertained. That's why reading is so great - it's an easy way to expand your vocabulary to make yourself sound smarter. Or, as I told one of the boys in my English 11 class, it's an easy way to sound smarter to help get the ladies. Whichever way you look at it, here are some interesting new words:

Amativeness - inclined to love or passion
Circumlocution - indirect, roundabout way of expressing oneself
Chanticleer - a rooster
Prolix - long and wordy; unnecessary length
Rabble - disorderly crowd
Meritorious - deserving praise
Fetterless - to be without shackles and chains

And, for fun:

Willy nilly - whether one likes it or not; haphazardly