A Lovely Award

I actually had a post already to go for today on different methods of building characters then I received this lovely award, which has a few rules attached so I'm going to save that other post for later and enjoy this award.

The rules for accepting this award are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award on.

Well, that first one is easy.  A big thank you to my WOWA buddie, Stacy McKitrick at Stacy's Rantings and Whatnot .

Hmmm.  7 things about myself...

1 - I'm an ice cream addict.  Which may explain why I'm always trying to lose weight.

2 - My favorite breed of dog is the American Mixed (spelled M-U-T-T).  All my dogs have come from shelters or unwanted litters, except for the one who just showed up and moved in.

3 - I'm a Red Cross disaster volunteer.  I've worked ice storms, floods, tornados, hurricanes, and the World Trade Center site after 9/11.

4 - I'm very unconfortable in strange situations or in large groups where I don't know anyone...which makes item #3 a bit more difficult.

5 - My first car, shared with my older brother, was a convertible.  My current car is a convertible.  I call it my mid-life-crisis-mobile.  I love to ride with the top down.

6 - I am a passionate Boston Red Sox fan.  And I don't want to talk about our slow start this season.

7 - I have four grandkids who are all incredibly beautiful, intelligent, talented, and generally extraordinary.  I am grateful for this because it means I don't have to make up good stuff about them.

Now - to pass this award along.  I'd like to give this award to these lovely ladies:

Maria Zannini
Liz Fichera
Mary Vaughn at Giggles and Guns
Mason Canyon at Thoughts in Progress
and last but certainly not least, Dru Ann Love at Notes From Me


I'm currently enjoying: Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston

Groaner of the day: Yesterday I accidentally swallowed some food coloring. The doctor says I'm OK, but I feel like I've dyed a little inside.

Why English is So Hard

Before I get to today's post - Check out this great award I received from N. R. Williams:

Isn't that the greatest face?

Okay - it's Friday.  And that means a fun - and usually borrowed - post.  This is from an e-mail that's been making the rounds forever.  Hopefully, it's one you haven't seen, or at least not for a while. 

And this is the tool of our trade?

Some reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) The two were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Scary, huh?  It gets worse.

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? If you have a bunch of  odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

And why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?


You know, it's amazing we can write at all.  Have a great weekend.

My current word count: 5023

I'm currently enjoying: Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters

Groaner of the Day:  I decided to go with a short one today but couldn't decide between these two.  Which one would you pick?

1 - Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here. I'll go on a head.'

2 - Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!