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.

Ya Crazy Galoot

Some words just sound good. For reasons unknown to me I just never get tired of hearing the word "GALOOT". It's even fun to say it.

Upon doing a search of "GALOOT" I stumbled across the Online Etymology Dictionary. Typing galoot into the search box returned the following information:

galoot
"awkward or boorish man," 1812, nautical, "raw recruit, green hand," originally a sailor's contemptuous word for soldiers or marines, of uncertain origin. "Dictionary of American Slang" proposes galut, Sierra Leone creole form of Spanish galeoto "galley slave." Perhaps rather Dutch slang kloot "testicle," klootzaak "scrotum," used figuratively as an insult.

Interesting! And to think Yosemite Sam used the word all the time. If you want to hear Yosemite click on button 4 - Crazy Galoot from SoundBoard

Louis B. Mayer used the word "galoot" when referring to Spencer Tracy in the following quote, "What do we need another galoot for? We've already got Wallace Beery" -- Louis B. Mayer, upon finding out that Irving Thalberg had hired Tracy to join MGM. (Quote comes from the IMDb entry for Spencer Tracy.)

Why I even learned that Carl Sandburg and Sinclair Lewis used "galoot" in their works. Bartleby. com had 4 references that I found.

Wow! I never realized that Yosemite Sam was so well read!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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

Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday-It's All The Same

Somewhere in the world today it's already tomorrow. It's like I am speaking from the past. COOL! I am writing this post this morning at approximately 9 AM on a Wednesday. Someone in Melbourne, Australia will read it at the moment of posting, which would be around 2 AM on Thursday. I know this because I have looked at The World Clock page. For this reader, they will be reading during their today and my tomorrow. WOW!

For others their today is my tomorrow. I Think! I suppose that would work if it is Midnight here and 11 PM in the next time zone. Yeah, that will work. I like the saying, "Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" I think there is a corollary statement to this that goes something along these lines: Tomorrow never gets here. When tomorrow arrives it is today and we have to wait another day for tomorrow. Also, when tomorrow arrives as today it makes today yesterday. So if tomorrow is today and today is yesterday does that make tomorrow yesterday and if it does what happened to today?

You know I was looking again at The World Clock page. I noticed that there are several areas in the world that have time zones that are 30 minutes different rather than 1 hour different from their neighbors. Some examples are: Adelaide, Darwin, Kabul, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, St. John's, Tehran, and Yangon. But what's up with places like Chatham Island in New Zealand? They are 45 minutes different, or 15 minutes depending upon your perspective. Another city that is Kathmandu in Nepal. Does it take 15 minutes longer to get to these places or maybe the sunlight reaches them 45 minutes faster. I don't know. But I am sure that the reason lies in a logical reason that is buried somewhere in history or tradition or historical tradition or the tradition of history.

If you want to see some good sites for time zones you might try worldtimezone.com, Time Zone Check, or Time Ticker. One thing I've found though is that they do not all agree. It is fun though. Enjoy

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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

A Souper Candle????

Chris and I went shopping earlier today. We stopped in at the Dollar General in Hewitt. I was looking at candles. It's kind of fun to smell them and see how close the scent is to what they describe. I came across a candle I've never seen nor smelled. It was a Campbell's Tomato Soup Candle that sells for $2. I don't mind seeing it again. But I don't want to smell it again. EVER! It is supposed to smell like tomato soup. Chris said if she wanted to to smell tomato soup she would just take a can out and make it. Then she could have it for lunch. At least you can eat the soup, you can't eat the candle. If you don't believe me the picture of the candle is below. Don't try to smell it though. I couldn't find the right html or javascript to make it come through.

I wonder if they will ever make a Chicken Noodle Soup candle?

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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

A Few Random Memories of New Years Past

Happy New Year to all.

This is truly the beginning of a great new year. The new year can be a new beginning for all of us. We can leave all the baggage behind that we picked up through 2007 and start anew.

I think we all start a new year with big expectations, looking forward to making changes for the better. This is a grand goal. I hope that all of us can do this. However, it takes more than a few simple ticks of the clock, or a ball falling in Times Square to do this. All of us have to want to change in our heart. then practice this change until it is now longer practice but "old hat". Unfortunately, many that started with grand intentions will slowly, imperceptibly slip back into old habits because for many of us, our situations have not changed. WOW!~This is getting to be deep. Let's move onto another subject.

I had to go to Hillcrest Hospital yesterday to make a payment. I drove by the house where I lived while in junior high and high school. Since it was New Year's Eve, it brought back a lot of memories. My parent's would always have a get together (Polite word for party) with a lot of the friends from church and work. My parents spent most of the day preparing, cleaning, cooking, and cleaning some more. For the most part I stayed out of the way. [Side note to something that is coming up--My mother loved to do crafts. She decided one day she would make some candle holders that looked like tiki torches for the yard. She used these for years. She still had them when she passed away 12 years ago. I don't have them now.] While I generally stayed out of the way, it was my responsibility to place these "tiki torches" at intervals along the sidewalk. Later, just before the festivities got under way, I was in the yard trying to light all of these.

Then people would start arriving. When I was in my early teens I stayed in my room during most of the party until on of the football games came on. Then I went to the den where the men were playing dominoes and watching the game. It seems that the game was the Bluebonnet Bowl from Houston. As I got older I spent less time at the house for the party because I had to spend more time with my friends. Regardless of my age my mother still expected me to place the "torches" in the ground and light them. By the time I was in Baylor I worked on New Year's Eve and Day, but I still put the "torches" in until my father passed away, which is when the parties stopped. Every New Years Eve I think of those parties and the good times that were had by all at them.

A year or two later, still at Baylor, we had one of our New Year's Eve ice storms. We had freezing rain, sleet, and snow until the entire city was shut down. I couldn't go to work because no one would be out shopping. I was trapped in my apartment. Just me and my cat. My roommate had gone home for the holidays. Thank goodness I had cable TV. Not cable TV like we have now. This cable TV from the 70's in Waco, TX. It was 12 channels. One channel was a "Weather" channel. It had a camera that panned across a thermometer, anemometer, and wind direction indicator. High tech stuff for Waco, TX in the 70's I guess. Another channel was a "Movie" channel. It showed a variety of 8 or 9 movies daily and changed the times for each movie daily for one week. After a week the movies would be changed. High tech stuff for Waco, TX in the 70's I guess. After that our channel choices were Channel 6 (NBC) and Channel 10 (CBS), both from Waco-Temple. The other available channels were 4 (CBS), 5 (NBC), 8 (ABC), 11(Independent), and 13 (PBS). The movie channel I mentioned earlier was on 12. I really can't remember where the weather dials were; I think maybe they were on 9. That leaves 3 channels that I believe were random scrolling messages and advertising for Cablevision, the provider at the time. Can you imagine being trapped in your house for a couple of days now and that is all you had to watch; no computer, no DVD's, no VCR's, no 200+ cable channels, no cellphones. And we thought we were civilized and living in the lap of luxury then? (If you are from Waco and remember the cable "from the day" write me and I'll add to the post.)

Better go now! It is late or early-Depends upon your perspective on this New Year's Day.

Once again, I would like to wish all of you a Wonderful and Blessed New Year!

© 2008 Barry T Horst



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