So Elicia MacKenzie has been crowned Maria von Trapp (in the show, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?) for the upcoming Toronto production of the Sound of Music. Good for her! I did not see a single episode, nor have I watched any of American Idol or Canadian Idol. That surely puts me [...]
Monthly Archives: July 2008
Reporter tries too hard
This has been bugging me since I read it in Monday’s Toronto Star: “…the 26-year-old Arizona resident broke his tour maiden at Glen Abbey yesterday.” Shades of 13th-century virgins being despoiled! I suppose the reporter was trying (with a little too much effort, in my opinion) to link Chez Reavie’s win at the Canadian Open, [...]
A new look at liver
A column in today’s Toronto Star had a great way of describing the liver’s function: “Almost all of the nutrients you eat have to pass through the the liver before moving to the heart for generalized distribution. Your liver decides what gets kept out, what gets patted down and inspected, and what’s allowed to be [...]
Baggage blues averted
Can you explain to me what on earth I was thinking? When I packed my bags for a visit to Calgary last week, I deliberately put a bottle of wine for my cousin in my carryon bag, for safekeeping. That’s right. A container with more than 100 ml (3.4 oz) of liquid. That no airline [...]
Life’s a butter dream
Friday is your last chance to submit your favourite mondegreen to Merriam-Webster. “Mondegreen” is one of the new words M-W has added to the M-W Collegiate Dictionary this year, meaning “a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung.” The original name comes from the mishearing of “laid him on [...]
Keeping up with the Joneses
Marketers are going after another supposedly influential group these days: Generation Jones, a term coined by Los Angeles “culture expert” Jonathan Pontell. This is the group within Baby Boomers born between 1954 and 1965. It probably tells you something that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are high-profile Jones members. The distinction here is not age, [...]
Too perfect
When my elderly neighbour passed away more than a year ago, his daughter took time to mourn. Then she started the task of cleaning up and fixing up, intending to sell the place. It’s a small two-bedroom bungalow, so the likely buyer will be elderly. The daughter knew this buyer would be unlikely to want [...]
Dancing to fame
By now, you are no doubt among the estimated 15 million people who have viewed Matt Harding doing his goofy dance around the world. Talk about viral! It’s interesting to see how his video has taken off. His web site – which shows he’s home in Seattle, just back from his second media tour – [...]
Talking ’bout my generation
I had an interesting experience that followed up a session at the IABC conference on generational differences in the workplace. Exhibit A. My husband (baby boomer) was looking for the phone number of a local golf course. He turned first to the closest print phone book and then the Yellow Pages. No listing in either [...]
Recent sightings
Fun words spotted recently: BlackBerry prayer. The head-down, slightly hunched position characteristic of a person using a BlackBerry or similar device. (From Wordspy.com.) Word of Mom. Attributed to Mabel’s Labels (“labels for the stuff kids lose”), referring to word about great kid-friendly products being passed along by moms. (Found via BuzzCanuck.) Unfortunate spelling spotted recently: [...]
