Day: August 4, 2022

Word Crimes

Fandango31 Comments

I have a reputation, somewhat deservedly so, as a pedantic and perhaps an overly passionate grammar Nazi. But the truth is that my pedantry is directed mostly toward me, myself, and I. And yes, I know, “me, myself, and I” is, in and of itself, an example of solecism, but, in this case, with intent.

It’s not as if, when I rise in the morning, my ambition is to find fault with the grammar, punctuation, usage, or spelling errors of other bloggers. That would be a huge waste of time, and I need to focus on striking a balance between reading other bloggers’ posts and writing my own.

Besides, I’m not a man without pathos. I don’t want to give other bloggers the squiggles because I understand that most of us here on WordPress are part-time bloggers, and we’re doing the best we can.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (passion), Your Daily Word Prompt (solecism), The Daily Spur (rise), Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration (waste), Word of the Day Challenge (striking), E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (pathos), My Vivid Blog (squiggles), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (part time).

Throwback Thursday — The Rules

Fandango11 Comments

Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie gives us the topic of rules and family hierarchy, and child/parent relationships. She asks the question, “are rules made to be broken?”

Here are Maggie’s questions.

1) Who in your family was the person who made and enforced rules?

I wouldn’t say that my parents were sticklers when it came to rules, but between my mother and father, my mother was more influential when it came to setting and enforcing the rules.

2) Did you grow up with many rules, or was your life a little more flexible?

As I said above, my folks weren’t sticklers who imposed a whole lot of rules, so I would go with a little more flexible.

3) Were you a rule follower or a rule breaker?

I followed the rules I liked and broke the ones I didn’t.

4) How were discipline and – in contrast – rewards managed in your household?

My folks were not disciplinarians. I don’t recall ever getting punished or grounded, but I also don’t recall having any “good behavior” rewards bestowed upon me.

5) Were you given the opportunity to plead your case in matters of disagreement?

Most of the time, yes. And I had two older sisters who often assisted me in that endeavor.

6) What tools did your parents use – ‘I’m going to count to three‘ or ‘don’t make me get up’ or a time-out chair?

It was mostly “go to your room,” which was fine with me, as being sent to my room was like Br’er Fox throwing Br’er Rabbit into the briar patch.

7) Did fear of discipline curb your desire to break or bend the rules?

The recurring theme in my responses to these questions is that there just wasn’t much in the way of discipline meted out to me, so fear of discipline wasn’t a big deterrent.

8) Did your upbringing influence the way you (as an adult) managed rules in your own home?

I was definitely more strict with my kids than my parents were with me. That said, my wife was more of the disciplinarian than I was.

9) Were you ever ‘grounded’? Do you want to share the story?

Nope. Never grounded.

10) Did you break rules your parents never knew about? Want to confess and leave with a clear conscious? No?

I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.

One Minute Fiction — Kidnapped

Fandango22 Comments

I came out of the grocery store with my baby girl in her stroller, officer. I realized when I got to the car that I left my purse with my car keys in it on the checkout counter. I gave my little sweetie her bottle, left her by the car, and literally ran back into the store to get my purse and keys. I couldn’t have been gone for more than thirty seconds and by the time I got back to my car, my little darling was gone and all that was here was her bottle.

Please, officer, you must find my precious baby. My husband is going to kill me!

Written for Cyranny’s One Minute Fiction prompt. Photo credit: Journal d’une Plume.

FOWC with Fandango — Passion

Fandango25 Comments
FOWC

It’s August 4, 2022. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “passion.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.