Life, the Universe and Everything

Universe or multiverse? I just heard that some people are questioning the use of the word "universe." I guess because of all the latest developments in quantum physics, and all the scientists trying to prove that randomness could not have created such an intelligent universe.

I don't know. I'm staying with universe. After all, isn't Everything and everyone supposed to ultimately be one?

One is a great book by Richard Bach.

Life, the Universe and Everything is also a title of one of the books in the misnamed trilogy by Douglas Adams.

Both fiction.

Manners

Manners. Please and Thank you. Is that all there is to manners? I read somewhere that manners are a social lubricant. There are no social lubricants for instant messages or email even. But as I said in my presentation, Verbal Impact, we can send email messages that look like formal letters in real life. I no longer send email messages without salutations. That’s the email you get from your boss that says:

Meeting at 3:00pm. Attendance mandatory.

Even if I send an email to a group, I like to start with “Hello Everyone” or “Salutations!” My latest kick is alliterative greetings, like Dear Lovely Lenore or Dear Persistent Pete. It’s fun to think up greetings that are profound, accurate or even just silly. I had a hard time thinking of an appropriate adjective for my friend Ron when I wanted to send him a message. All I could think of was Rambunctious or Rude and they didn’t quite fit. I think I grabbed my handy dictionary and browsed thru it for a more appropriate salutation. I found Regal and Royal. People seem to like them. I enjoy the greetings they send me in return. I got one recently saying Dear Gorgeous Gloria! It really has a positive impact and I think it gets the person to actually read the rest of the message!

Thank you for reading.

Arrr!

Avast thar, me hearties!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! They seem to have dropped the "International" part.

I think I will send messages to everyone I know to spread the jubilation to other nations!

Aye, aye!

Treasure Chest

I have heard that Sept. 17 is Citizen’s day, but now I read that Wednesday is International Talk like a Pirate Day. Arrr! Just because it is popular to do that here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, I guess they want to make it INTERnational, even tho it’s not even a national pastime! They are enamored with pirates here in Florida, and take every opportunity to dress up or talk like pirates. It’s an interesting phenomenon. I have a tape from Disney many years ago showing the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It shows (male) pirates chasing women, drinking and having drunken confrontations (a great idea for a children’s ride)! I think the ride in Orlando has been updated to resemble the pirates found in the current popular movies with Johnny Depp. Where the men can wear makeup and the women can be pirates, too! In the movies the ribaldry and drinking have been toned down, though the violence emphasized and magic and supernatural elements have been introduced. But here in Tampa, although women can be pirates, they do have to wear push up bras and expose as much of their chests as possible. And drinking is more essential than the violence. But they do go together, don’t they?

I love Halloween, so I understand this childish need to play make believe. But they do it here all the time!

And substandard English is rampant here. So it’s hard to notice if someone is trying to talk like a pirate. I guess you just have to say, Hello me hearties! Aye, Aye! And Arrr! A lot.

Compassion

I read this morning that over 50,000 people are released from Florida jails per year with the same drug, alcohol, or mental health problems they went in with.

What is the answer? Love, caring and compassion need to be rampant, instead of apathy and indifference. Health food has to be fast and ubiquitous instead of hamburgers smothered in dressing and french fries coated with sugar and salt ( or cheese or gravy)!

A man is walking by me in the park. He is attached to a large enthusiastic pitbull puppy, by a heavy double chain. His flabby belly hangs over his boxers, which have valentine hearts printed on them. The bottom of his "shorts" are almost reaching his ankles. He is shirtless, highlighting several small monochromatic tattoos on the chest and shoulders. Does it cost more to have more colors? What happens when people move to Florida? Or does it happen after a set amount of years living here? Or does this change take place before moving?

Now I see a woman. It could be a pregnant belly, but still, the girth of the belly is balanced by an even larger double bump in the back, the behind actually. It's huge! 40 ax handles wide! Where does that expression come from? And why is it only applied to a woman's bottom?

I was just recording my observations while I was in the park. And leaving I wondered how to close this article. I started out thinking about the lack of compassion in our society and now I am forced to see it in myself.

Maddeningly Optimistic

Why do we say Thank you from the "bottom of my heart." Why not the "top of my heart?" It sounds more positive and optimistic to me.


"She was madly today." That's a sentence my son wrote for his homework. (I think he was referring to me.) He couldn't find madly in his dictionary. It was listed within the definition for mad. I hope he will learn to love the dictionary as madly as I do.



Mad. Where did that word come from? Dictionary says from Middle English, from Old English. Which means they aren't exactly sure how it came about, since English is a combination of so many influences.


And why can I think of no other sentence containing madly except "He loves her madly." What other things do we do madly? I read madly. I write madly. I eat madly. No they don't sound right. He was madly running way from the cops! She was madly dashing about the room looking for her shoes. It does go with running or dashing. And I think a bird could flap madly around in a cage. Can thoughts rampage madly through your mind??? I can, and often do, rummage madly through my pocketbook, looking for keys or a hairband.


Have I gone mad? Or am I just mad about words and expressions? Or am I just maddening?

You're Welcome

Why don’t people say “you’re welcome” anymore? This used to be the standard reply in response to Thank you. But I never hear it anymore. I’m on a personal mission to bring it back. You’re welcome to join me in this effort!

Rapture

I am listening to a novel called Left Behind. It is absolutely terrifying. I never thought too much about the Rapture, or when I did I figured the righteous would disappear and most people wouldn’t even notice. But in LaHaye and Jenkins’ vision, 30-40% of people vanish at the same time all over the world. This causes chaos, and multiple traffic accidents and major catastrophes.(Is that redundant?) I would definitely grieve the losses, but it seems pretty obvious in this situation that the vanished ones are the lucky ones. They don’t have to deal with the plagues or the nasty people left behind. I think I would be happy for them and extremely sorry for myself. In the book a major character is a reporter and he sees this situation as an opportunity to get the news scoop over all other journalists. It’s all in your perspective.

I remember a friend of mine, Barbara, saying that major airlines always paired up one Christian pilot with another non-Christian, so that someone would be left to land the plane if the Rapture occurred! I thot it was hysterical at the time. (Anyone know if this is true?)

See philologsblog.blogspot.com for explanation of the word, "thot."

I didn't see the movie based on this novel, but it would probably make a suspenseful movie, that would make one think.

Where is Cyprus?

I'm going to write a few more articles about Cyprus. Most Americans don't even know that it is an independent country. In Florida, when I say my husband is from Cyprus, they say, Cypress what? Cypress Gardens? All of the developments here have names, and names of trees are quite popular. We have Whispering Oaks, Spanish Pines, and etc. Cypress Gardens is another minor tourist attraction.



I didn't know where it was when I met my husband. He actually drew me a picture, a map and as he drew it, he explained that Jesus lived over here (in the middle East), and Lazarus took a boat over to Cyprus after Jesus revived him, and the apostles traveled here, and Aphrodite was born off the coast of Cyprus, and I was just amazed that I got an education in ancient history as well as Geography! The US is so new and he was telling me about places that are written about in the Bible! He knew where these things actually happened!



Cyprus is located East of Crete, North of Africa, West of Iran, and South of Turkey. It is closer to Turkey than to Greece. It was inhabited by Greeks, Turks, Africans, Romans, etc, But mostly Greeks.