Etymology Lesson

Last night I was reading a story about kids in sixth grade and asked Ben if he was familiar with the phrase “Duh-Hay.” He said no, but he knew the phrase, “Uh-duh.” I said, “What about “Adoyee!” He said he was familiar with adoyee, but we had a debate about spelling. I’ve always seen it in my mind as I just spelled it. Ben said, “No, it’s uh-doi-ee. With hyphens.” I explained why I thought it was adoyee. I showed him, on paper, the evolution from duh, to aduh, to adoy, to adoyee. He said he disagreed, that the dashes emphasized the syllables more, that the “i” and the subsequent hyphen in uh-doi-ee acted as a spring for the “ee” to bounce off of, that it was onomatopoetic. Then he asked me if I knew the phrase “toh-heh.” (Or, “Oooh, toh-heh,” and I’d like to add that this is as odd-sounding and hard to say as it looks.) I said, “Only because I’ve heard you try to tell me you used to say it.” I asked him how it was spelled, and I was corrected. “No, it’s ‘tor-heh’ – t-o-r – you don’t hear the r?” I said, “Um, no.” He said, “Listen: tawww-heh.” I said, “Oh, sort of like with a Boston accent.” “Yes,” he said. “And what is the origin of this phrase, do you suppose?” He said, “Well, actually, there’s a longer version of it that goes, ‘Oooh, tor-heh awh yor heh!’” I asked him to spell it so I could write it down. He said, “It’s a way of saying, ‘tore hair off your head’. Like if someone insults you, especially a girl, it’s like she tore some hair off your head. “Ooooh! Tor-heh-awh-yor-heh!” I told him when I was in high school we called this a soup, or if someone really dissed you, double or even, “Oooh, triple soup!”

I SO married the right guy.

Glory Week at the Litblog Co-op

Proceed Only If You Have High-Speed + Can Tolerate The Sound of My Voice

Actually, there’s stuff to read too, and unlike me, you probably don’t have to leave your house while you wait for the podcast to download anyway. So, check out my virgin podcast over here at the Litblog Co-op, where the subject of All This Heavenly Glory is up for discussion this week. I’ll be joining them on Wednesday for a live blog, as will my editor on Thursday.

A New Online Obsession

I blame my new favorite cousin I never knew I had for turning my passion for crafts into one more thing to poke around for hours on the web: craft websites. Who knew. Here are three to get you started:
little birds
a bird in the hand
angry chicken
If you look at the number of comments on these sites, they are VERY popular, unsurprising because everything is so painfully cute that I want to retire from writing to my craft career way before I turn 65. I did start a little felt owl last night that’s turning out pretty cute. Anyway, also I ordered this book, and if anyone out there reads Japanese, please be in touch, because I’m not sure what I was thinking about how I’d actually read the instructions. I just saw the patterns and had to have it.
Writing this, I think I figured it out, how to get all the writing/sewing/embroidery/collage/quilting/knitting/whatever projects done. I will quit sleeping.

Off The Radio

Dang! An eventful morning of broadcasting over here. First I get all excited cuz Oprah's changed her mind and she's got Big Jim back on the show and she's piiiisssed! At the top of the show she said she regretted what she said on Larry King and that the truth matters, and then JF came on - admitting to certain fabrications but continuing to refer to the people in his book as "characters"... anyway, it was more what Oprah wasn't saying that was killing me, the look on her face was just like, DO. You realize. Who you. Have messed with. AND THEN, a mere ten minutes into the show, if this is possible, the only other person I have less patience for than Frey preempts Oprah and Jim to talk about, like, whatever, I don't know, because the sound of his voice is excruciating to me. Anyway you can be sure I'll be taping the rebroadcast late tonight, but some of you might still get to see it during the day.

Plus Writer's Block Party was bumped today, so I'll keep you posted on the reschedule.

Mad Hot Ballroom + Spellbound = My Ideal Family

I my kids to be one half nerdy brainy Spellbound and one half street-smart wide-eyed Mad Hot Ballroom. Can I order that up? I think the thing that struck me watching MHB was how – ballroom dancing isn’t like, at the peak of it’s popularity with the kids these days, but that it’s almost like you could take anything at all (ok, anything wholesome) and get kids excited about it if you actually take the time. Okay what I’m trying to say is that they need attention, and direction, and attention, and attention, and some of these kids had behavior problems prior to the ballroom thing and then suddenly they didn’t, and I think that’s pretty awesome.

In Style Celebrity Weddings, The TV Show: We’re Not On It

The other night, watching The Bachelor (Paris!) a commercial came on for a special on Celebrity Weddings: Ben and Jen 2 and whoever the hell else got married last year. And I said to Ben, “I am soooo glad I turned out to be who I am.”

On the Radio, Ooh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Heads up, this Thursday I’m gonna be reading from this blog on Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Writer’s Block Party, which will air sometime between 9:30 and 11:00 am on WBEZ (91.5 on your fm dial) Chicago’s program 848. Check it.

Satisfying Noises

I think it’s fair to say that I am overly sensitive to loudness. I can happily listen to the TV at levels most people can’t hear, and although I do occasionally crank the stereo, if you crank the stereo and it’s something I don’t care for, I just can’t handle it. Even small noises are capable of completely tormenting me, especially if they’re of a repetitive nature; tapping or dripping, that sort of thing.
But there are also noises that please me endlessly. Two that come to mind today:
1) There’s a new self-serve machine at the post office that accepts packages. When you tap the screen, it makes an electronic, loudish clack. I don’t know how to describe it any better than that. It seems to be it’s own distinct sound. Best of all, there never seems to be a line at the self-serve machine even though there is almost always a line for the real people. I can only assume those people don’t know about the satisfying clack.
2) The dial on an iPod. Ben got an iPod for Xmas and I was pretty unfamiliar with them before this. Again, it’s a sort of artificial sounding tick tick tick tick tick, but it’s just so dang pleasant.

I Quit The Game of Life

It was past my bedtime and I was tired and also busting out itching from our friends’ cats. I was having fun playing The Game of Life before that, honest, even though I was losing. The Game of Life. Not that I’m reading anything into it. Although I would like to add that in the real Game of Life, I've always been a late bloomer, and had I continued playing The Game Game of Life, I probably could have won.

I Don’t Really Care That I Already Know Who Wins

Because I am gobbling up last season’s Project Runway like I’ve been gobbling up cookie dough these last weeks. They did some awesome casting for this show, and I so want to be new best friends with Austin Scarlett’s hair.