Words I Hate, Vol. 3

I am somewhat indignant. I make a habit of stopping by either Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts on the way home from my daily walk, and generally I will get some form of a nonfat vanilla latte. On occasion I will "splurge" on a coffee (light) frappuccino or Dunkin's answer to that, the coffee coolatta. I am indignant because today I stopped by one of my local Dunkins (they are nearly as prevalent as Starbucks around my area) for a coolatta (it was hot today, so I wanted the ice). What I got was the color of mud and didn't taste much better. Mind you, I ordered my drink with nonfat milk to cut the fat and calories, so I expected it to be a bit darker than the pictures, but I have ordered the same drink before and it had been lighter colored. I asked the girl who had made it, and she told me that it always looks like that when you use nonfat milk. I tasted it while there and it didn't seem too bad, so I left. Bad move...it got worse with every sip. It tasted like she had made it with 90% coffee syrup and 10% ice. I went home and dumped it in a blender with more ice, and actually put milk in it this time...and lo and behold, it was actually the drink I ordered. Sheesh, people, don't say you made it right when you clearly didn't!!

I have Cicely to thank for my second rant today, and the third about words I hate. I apologize to those who already know the difference, but it really irks me when people confuse their, they're and there. For the uninitiated, here's a little trick to tell the difference. They're is easy to remember, since it's the only one with an apostrophe. It is the contraction for the words "they are." If you are not using a sentence where you can replace "they're" with "they are," you are using the wrong word. For the other two, you need to look at the words without the initial T for a clue. Their is a possessive, like "my" or "our." When you remove the T from "their", you are left with the word "heir," a person who receives property, reminding you of the possessive. When you remove the T from "there," you get the word "here," a location. "There" is also a location, so "here" will remind you that "there" is the location word. I hope my written explanation will help at least one person not confuse them anymore! 

English lesson/rant over.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a new Poetry Challenge! That means tonight is the last chance to submit a found poem.

Haiku News

Ethnic tensions cause

rioting in Xinxiang, now

one-hundred-plus dead.

Franken to senate;

Never was funny before,

certainly not now.

Scumbags of the day:

scalpers attempted to sell

free Jackson tickets.

Words I Hate, Vol. 2

Today was one of those days where I just sit back and repeat way too many times how much I love my son. He was just so adorable. He still doesn't say many words we can understand but he does so many things that are ridiculously cute. My husband loves picking him up and swinging him around to land on the pillows or mattress of our bed. He squeals and smiles bigger than I have ever seen him do for that game. Just today, he started taking our cordless phone and putting it up to his ear and "talking" on it. See what I mean? Almost too cute to be allowed. He can now climb our stairs in about 45 seconds flat, and he giggles when I put him on my lap and slide down on my butt. He did it three times in a row today and was REALLY mad when I finally put the gate up on the bottom of the stairs. I was tired!

On to the words I hate that I was reminded of today. I hate when people misspell the phrase "rein in." I have seen it all too often as "reign in." I can understand the temptation to mistake the homonyms, but being a horsewoman on hiatus it bugs me when equestrian-flavored phrases get disrespected in such a way. With this phrase in particular, it is a real horseback riding term for pulling back on the reins to slow or stop a horse, so it actually makes sense to use it in place of slowing down, toning down, or stopping something, while if you were to use "reign in," that makes no sense whatsoever. A cousin of this expression is "free rein," which often appears as "free reign." The real version of this is, of course, the former, horse-related term, which would mean allowing the horse to go where and as fast as it pleases. (I would only recommend doing this on a gentle horse.) There is no official definition for the latter spelling on Dictionary.com, which leads me to believe it's just a common misspelling, not an acceptable alternative, although it makes more sense that "reign in." Okay, rant over.

Haiku News

Monorail trains crash,

young Disney cast member killed;

no one else is hurt.

Andy Roddick plays

epic four-hour tennis match;

Federer prevails.

"Why is this news?" file:

Costa Rica ranks as the

happiest nation.

Words I Hate, Vol. 1

When rummaging through my brain for an apt title for today's blog, I remembered how much I hate it when people title things "Misc.". I wouldn't even mind as much if they bothered to look up how to spell "miscellaneous," especially since I rather enjoy long words. I just dislike how often it is used because people can't be bothered to spell out a long word or to better sort their collection of stuff, whether photos or items in a box. Anyway.

I was happy to see a blog by my friend Paige identifying herself as a "runner." I realized that I now have a new title as well: motivator. I never expected when I began my fitness journey over two years ago that I would be inspiring my friends to begin their own. I was simply trying to get in better shape and lose some extra pounds. At that time, they were just leftovers from college and several happy married years, and now it's the leftovers from gaining a bit too much in my pregnancy. Either way, it's a pain to get those pounds off and extremely slow if one simply diets, so I am coupling that with an exercise regime. I have found I work better under some sort of pressure, so I will find a race for which to sign up (along with a small, nonrefundable fee) to motivate myself to keep training. For me, this summer, I have already trained for and completed a 10 mile race, and this September I will run my second half marathon. This summer I have also discovered the benefits of working with actual trainers to develop a higher level of fitness, as well as being able to ask questions on nutrition, stretching, and what to do on non-running days (I am a BIG fan of the Wii Fit). I have become a sort of quasi-trainer (at least, an advisor) to several friends new to running and exercising, and while I repeatedly remind them I am NOT an expert, I feel good helping them to reach for their next goals. 

I am pleased to report that the first foray into this week's poetry challenge has been posted; you can read Paige's lovely haiku here. Please, join in the fun! 

Haiku News

Most popular car

Of '08 not Honda, Ford:

Little Tykes Coupe rules!

Chastity Bono

Now wants to live as a man.

More power to her him!

Obama writes note

to excuse girl from school--wow.

What a great keepsake!

Money-filled mattress

Accidentally thrown out;

Mother proves stoic.