At Least I Thought It Was Interesting

I was flipping through a book earlier today. I always find it interesting for a quick glance. The book is "The Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions" by Harry Shaw. It was published by McGraw-Hill with a copyright of 1975 and 1987. There seems to be many of these books available on Amazon for real cheap.

Any way, I was reading about several words that happened to catch my eye. The words were: Flammable and Inflammable, Ravel and Unravel, and finally Discreet and Discrete. This is what Mr. Shaw has to say about each set of words:

flammable, inflammable. These words mean the same thing and are interchangeable. They are not contrasted, as are, for example, capable and incapable, mature and immature. Although both words are correct, flammable is more often used by scientists and in technical pursuits, whereas inflammable is more common outside manufacturing contexts. In referring to someone's temperament or behavior, inflammable seems more appropriate than flammable (his inflammable disposition). Possibly some day everyone will settle on flammable.

ravel, unravel. Usually the prefix un- changes the meaning of a word to the opposite. But ravel and unravel mean "to unwind," "to take to pieces," "to disentangle." Thus the words are interchangeable except when unravel is used in the sense of solving a problem or mystery.

And finally,

discreet, discrete. These words, pronounced alike, have entirely different meanings. To be discreet is to be prudent, cautious, careful, trustworthy, circumspect: "Never one to talk much, she kept a discreet silence." "The late President Truman often referred to George Marshall as a discreet official." Discrete means "separate," "distinct," "apart," "detached": "This question consists of six discrete parts." "Manufacturing, advertising, selling, and collecting payment are discrete divisions of his business."

Well, I thought it was interesting reading.
© 2008 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

My Day Yesterday, Your Reading Today

I had to take my daughter Julie down to the offices of the Dwyer Group to fill out some papers for her new job yesterday morning. I waited in the reception area as she went to an office in the back. The offices are relatively new and quite nice. I was content to sit on the leather couch and look at magazines. The leather couch was not content with me sitting. As I sat, my body would slowly slide out from under me until I was kind of sprawled in the couch. The leather was very smooth. I would reposition myself and sit up. And then it would begin all over again; slip, slide, sprawl.

After several minutes my phone rang. It's Julie! She wants to know about the W-4 form. I help her over the phone and then hang up. Several minutes after this the phone rings again. It is Julie again. I say, "Hello!" Julie says, "I need my Social Security Card. Mom said it's at home!" I say. "Okay! I'll go get it." I have to drive home get her card and bring it back for her. When I get back I hand it to the receptionist who takes it back to Julie. I go back to the couch. I sit. I slide. I slip. I slunk. I sprawl. I don't get up this time. I just wait for Julie to finish. Some time later Julie emerges and said she is finished. We walk out to the truck and leave.

In the truck Julie said she was hungry. By now it was close to Noon. She wanted to go to Taco Bueno. I told her no, I'm not hungry and besides, I wanted to go to the computer store. After getting her food at Taco Bueno, I drove down the highway to Altex. I was looking at hard drives, wireless speakers, and keyboards. Along the way someone cut in front of me and when I hit the brakes Julie's drink went flying to the floor. I told her later that I hoped the police didn't stop me since I now had Coke on the floor. She had to clean it up. She wasn't happy.

Jace was at the house yesterday when I got home. Jace is still out for Christmas vacation and both parents, Scott & Jessica, had to work. So, Chris and I got to babysit. Actually it wasn't babysitting, it was more like young child sitting. Jace decided to practice cutting with scissors yesterday. He sat at my desk and cut and cut and cut. When he finished he was proud that he cleaned up all the paper that he cut. I was proud that he cleaned up all the paper that he cut. Then he decided to make a mouse trap. It consisted of strips of paper and a lot of tape. I'm not sure how it was going to catch mice but it hung on the side of my desk waiting to snare any unwary mouse that might wander along by my desk. Later we got the magnetic toy out for him to play with. While he played I prepared for a visit to the HEB to buy some groceries. Jace was happy to play at the house.

As I was getting my list and other things together Chris asked me to take Jace. that way he could see his mom, she works at HEB. Before we go Jace had to go to the restroom. This is important to remember for later.

Conversation time:
Jace: "Grandpa I'm tired!"
Grandpa: "Jace you're fine. If you stayed home you would be watching cartoons and jumping up and down acting silly!.
Jace: "But Grandpa, I'm tired."
Grandpa: "That's fine. Just lay your head down and rest."
Jace angrily: "I can't rest!" Then mumbling several times: "I can't rest!"
Grandpa: ""Fine. Don't rest!"

A few moments later all I hear is snoring. He went to sleep. I guess he was tired.

At the store Jace awakens and we get out and get a basket. In the store we want in line to see his mother. Jace announces that he is hungry. Afterwards, we go to the deli and get some potato wedges. After the potato wedges we begin our shopping. Barely out of the produce and Jace decides that he is thirsty. We have to go across the store to the water fountain. Thirst quenched we head back to continue shopping. As soon as we get started Jace announces that he is thirsty again. Nope! We continue shopping. He was a great help while I shopped. he made sure I did not lose the basket or get lost. If I walked more than 5 feet away he started to call me and ask where I was going. He also made sure that the items I put in the basket stayed where I put them. Towards the end of our trip Jace said he needed to go to the restroom. Yep! He did that at home before we left. I took him. Finally we got to check out and went home; after we stopped at the Buddy Bucks machine so Jace could spend his Buddy Bucks.

© 2008 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.