Grandma (Who we all called Mema) was from Opp, Alabama, and Grandpa (Pa) was from Plant City, Florida. So I've been thinking about words and phrases that I used to hear (and sometimes say), that reflected this. Mema was the main source for these, mostly because Grandpa didn't talk much.
Most Americans will have heard of dungarees as jeans, fewer might know plum tuckered out to mean one is tired in the sleepy way. To traipse was to walk around or walk somewehere, but there was a perjorative connotation to the word that I cannot quite put my finger on. Tomatoes were 'maters. If you were about to do something, you were fixin' to do it. So if you were about to prepare the evening meal, you were fixin' to fix supper. If Pa was going to fixin' to tan yer hide, then you were going to get a severe whippin'.
None of these are too weird; I bet John knows all of these (he is from Texas, and Texans are sort of like Southerners). But there are a few that I have never heard anyone outside my family say:
Gom and mess- To play around and make a big mess out of something. Usually applied when I or my brothers had been into something in Mema's house.
Co-cola A coke.
Trot line For catching catfish. It seems everybody else calls this a "trout line", but neither pronounciation makes sense. There is not trotting involved, and it is not used for catching trout. I don't think. Don't actually know much about trout.
Friday, January 07, 2005
Something called the Edge asked a bunch of people this question:
What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?
Michael Shermer's answer is pretty cool, but so is Shermer himsef. Bruce Sterling's answer is lame. I think most of the people asked are academic types, because many of the answers seem overly prolix.
As for me, I believe (but cannot prove) that I will draw the two of spades on the last card, that my flush beats AJ's flush, and that switching from beer to whiskey at 1:00AM will somehow improve my luck.
What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?
Michael Shermer's answer is pretty cool, but so is Shermer himsef. Bruce Sterling's answer is lame. I think most of the people asked are academic types, because many of the answers seem overly prolix.
As for me, I believe (but cannot prove) that I will draw the two of spades on the last card, that my flush beats AJ's flush, and that switching from beer to whiskey at 1:00AM will somehow improve my luck.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Chaon, like Giblets, is unsatisfied. Chaon can still see his shoes this morning, which is a sure indication that the belly has been insufficiently gorged with donuts.
There are a few fundamental principles of donuting that Waili donuts seems to have missed out on.
-Glazed donuts. A donut shop without glazed donuts is like.. a walrus without a micrometer, or poker without cards, or something. I really gotta work on my similes. Anyway, they ain't got no glazed donuts.
-Jelly filled donuts. None. No blueberry, rasberry, or that day-glo yellow lemon stuff. No chocolate cream filled donuts either.
-Donut density. The actual cake part of the donut should be light and fluffy, to facilitate the eating of a dozen donuts in one sitting. Waili donuts are the right size, but they weigh about 40% too much. Even I cannot eat twelve of those donuts, and I can eat twelve McDonalds hamburgers as an appetizer to a pizza.
-Cops. What kind of donut shop doesn't have any policemen drinking coffee and feasting on sugary goodness? A FAUX donut shop. That's what kind.
Also, I stood in line for 15 minutes to buy these under-sweetened tori. Which is better than the three-hour wait being reported at Taipei's Mr. Donut, but is still 15 minutes I could have spent polishing my tusks or thinking about lesbians or something.
There are a few fundamental principles of donuting that Waili donuts seems to have missed out on.
-Glazed donuts. A donut shop without glazed donuts is like.. a walrus without a micrometer, or poker without cards, or something. I really gotta work on my similes. Anyway, they ain't got no glazed donuts.
-Jelly filled donuts. None. No blueberry, rasberry, or that day-glo yellow lemon stuff. No chocolate cream filled donuts either.
-Donut density. The actual cake part of the donut should be light and fluffy, to facilitate the eating of a dozen donuts in one sitting. Waili donuts are the right size, but they weigh about 40% too much. Even I cannot eat twelve of those donuts, and I can eat twelve McDonalds hamburgers as an appetizer to a pizza.
-Cops. What kind of donut shop doesn't have any policemen drinking coffee and feasting on sugary goodness? A FAUX donut shop. That's what kind.
Also, I stood in line for 15 minutes to buy these under-sweetened tori. Which is better than the three-hour wait being reported at Taipei's Mr. Donut, but is still 15 minutes I could have spent polishing my tusks or thinking about lesbians or something.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
The top five reasons why my wife is the coolest:
5. She shops at Mango. This is cool because where women's clothes can cost up to a zillion dollars, stuff at Mango is always inexpensive. Buying clothes for my wife could only get cheaper if we went to the night market. Which I have of course suggested.
4. She doesn't divorce me for endlessly blabbering on about lesbians.
3. She bought me a suede leather Mongolian greatcoat in Mongolia. And she lets me wear it out, even though I look so studly and all these girls try to jump on me and stuff.
2. She brought pizza, beer, and a stripper to poker night on my birthday. Unless you are Pimp Ryan, in which case there was no stripper.
And the number one reason why my wife is the coolest is...
1. She found the Waili Donut Shop's website! The address is No. 899, Li Ming Rd., Sec. 2. I am going there just as soon as I finish typing this. I plan to be too fat by tomorrow morning to blog anything. Heck, if I don't shave for a few days I can soon look like a 6' 7" Michael Moore. Hmm. Maybe that greatcoat will hide the donut belly...
5. She shops at Mango. This is cool because where women's clothes can cost up to a zillion dollars, stuff at Mango is always inexpensive. Buying clothes for my wife could only get cheaper if we went to the night market. Which I have of course suggested.
4. She doesn't divorce me for endlessly blabbering on about lesbians.
3. She bought me a suede leather Mongolian greatcoat in Mongolia. And she lets me wear it out, even though I look so studly and all these girls try to jump on me and stuff.
2. She brought pizza, beer, and a stripper to poker night on my birthday. Unless you are Pimp Ryan, in which case there was no stripper.
And the number one reason why my wife is the coolest is...
1. She found the Waili Donut Shop's website! The address is No. 899, Li Ming Rd., Sec. 2. I am going there just as soon as I finish typing this. I plan to be too fat by tomorrow morning to blog anything. Heck, if I don't shave for a few days I can soon look like a 6' 7" Michael Moore. Hmm. Maybe that greatcoat will hide the donut belly...
Monday, January 03, 2005
TURKEY
It was mentioned to me that I was remiss in not blogging a very noteworthy item after Christmas. A bunch of us had turkey Chistmas dinner at John's house. While this in itself is not exciting, the preparation of the turkey may be of some interest. The turkey was (baked? grilled? barbecued?) on a barbecue grill. When John told me he was going to cook the turkey this way, I was skeptical of a scrumptious outcome. Every time I have cooked a turkey (which is a total of one time), the white meat of the turkey was too dry. And speak not to me of basting. I basted that damn turkey like a volleyball at a football game, and it did not help one bit. So, it was a great surprise when we sliced the turkey to find that it was possibly the most tender, moistest white turkey meat I have ever eaten. John said something about turning the turkey upside down at some stage of the cooking, but I was already eating and didn't pay much attention.
TSUNAMI
Brett mentioned this on Saturday, and I found it this morning. Are you serious about contributing to the relief effort in Sri Lanka? Fly on over and help clean up. Cynthia priced tickets this morning, they are NT$22000 round trip Taipei-Colombo. The problem for Taiwaners is that it looks like the projects are two weeks long minimum. We can take the Lunar New Year holiday for one week, but that leaves another week of vacation time or unpaid leave or whatever. I have never heard of this group Global Crossroad, but there is no real reason why I should have heard of them.
OBJECTIVISTS
U.S. Should Not Help Tsunami Victims. Very nice. Somebody give me a quick reminder. Are Objectivists predominantly Democrats or Republicans? I can't quite remember. Though to be entirely fair, it looks like they are saying that only the U.S. Government should not help tsunami victims. So it's not like we should call them extremists or anything.
It was mentioned to me that I was remiss in not blogging a very noteworthy item after Christmas. A bunch of us had turkey Chistmas dinner at John's house. While this in itself is not exciting, the preparation of the turkey may be of some interest. The turkey was (baked? grilled? barbecued?) on a barbecue grill. When John told me he was going to cook the turkey this way, I was skeptical of a scrumptious outcome. Every time I have cooked a turkey (which is a total of one time), the white meat of the turkey was too dry. And speak not to me of basting. I basted that damn turkey like a volleyball at a football game, and it did not help one bit. So, it was a great surprise when we sliced the turkey to find that it was possibly the most tender, moistest white turkey meat I have ever eaten. John said something about turning the turkey upside down at some stage of the cooking, but I was already eating and didn't pay much attention.
TSUNAMI
Brett mentioned this on Saturday, and I found it this morning. Are you serious about contributing to the relief effort in Sri Lanka? Fly on over and help clean up. Cynthia priced tickets this morning, they are NT$22000 round trip Taipei-Colombo. The problem for Taiwaners is that it looks like the projects are two weeks long minimum. We can take the Lunar New Year holiday for one week, but that leaves another week of vacation time or unpaid leave or whatever. I have never heard of this group Global Crossroad, but there is no real reason why I should have heard of them.
OBJECTIVISTS
U.S. Should Not Help Tsunami Victims. Very nice. Somebody give me a quick reminder. Are Objectivists predominantly Democrats or Republicans? I can't quite remember. Though to be entirely fair, it looks like they are saying that only the U.S. Government should not help tsunami victims. So it's not like we should call them extremists or anything.
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