Sunday, August 7, 2005

Odds and Ends 13

Have you ever heard a man or a woman say, "WE'RE pregnant"? I heard this on the radio the other night, and that sort of thing just makes me grind my teeth.

No, WE are not pregnant. SHE is pregnant and though he made her pregnant, he is most definitely not pregnant! His belly won't expand, his ankles won't swell, he won't end up waddling in the last couple of weeks, and most, importantly, he will not experience labor or giving birth. It's all on her.

I realize this isn't meant literally, but rather, it's a gooey appeal to togetherness, to emphasize the coming parenthood for both.

No thanks. Don't mind me, but I'd rather just say, "I'm going to be a Dad", and leave it at that.

Next thing you know after a man says "We're pregnant", he'll be wearing matching Winnie the Pooh sweatshirts with his wife/female partner.

Ugh. I think I'm going to be sick now.
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While listening to the radio the other day, a song came on where it was very obvious whenever the singer took a breath. The loud sucking sound every few bars completely distracted me from listening to the words of the song. I wanted to hear the sound of music, not the sound of a 4 pack a day smoker at the end of a 10k hike!

It made me wonder why when the song was mixed prior to release, why these loud inhalations were simply not erased from the track. Surely, it is possible to do that?
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I have two small scars on my head, both near my eyes, one above and eye and one under the other one.

The first I acquired when I was about three, when one of our family's roosters jumped on top of my head and tried to pluck my eye out, which the rooster perceived as simply a shiny object. My uncle grabbed the rooster and wrung its neck and we ended up eating chicken that night.

After more than forty years, this scar is hard to see and you'd likely not notice it unless I pointed it out.

The other scar I got back in the 80s. A prisoner being booked had broken away from the jailer and ran out the door -- smack dab into me. I ended up getting into a fight with this guy, who was hopped up on drugs. He sucker punched me, knocking me flat on my ass. I jumped up and eventually gained the upper hand and got him back to the jail, but I carry a small scar above my left eye from this fight.
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I've noticed that internet computer usage has inspired some rather tortured word constructions, and not all from individual users. My internet provider is Earthlink and I prefer to use the Web Mail feature to check my email.

Sometimes, when I click onto the mail link, I get this message "Due to inactivity, your session has expired. Please re-login."

Re-login???? What the hell kind of a word is that? It's awkward, it's clumsy, and it's pretentious.

Why not have the message say, "Please log in again"?

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