Whatever

Toe the Line

Fandango40 Comments

Yes, these are my toes. I hope this photo isn’t grossing you out too much.

Notice a few things about my toes:

  • My second toe is slightly longer than my big toe
  • There is a gap between my big toe and the second toe
  • I could really use a pedicure

Are your toes anything like mine? Which toe is longer, your big toe or the one next to it? Is there a gap between those two toes? Do you get regular pedicures?

So here’s what I want you to do if you dare! Take a photo of your toes on one foot (or both, if you want to) and post it on your blog. Then tell us something interesting about your toes.

Go ahead. I dare you!

Woe Unto You, Universal Studios Hollywood

Fandango39 Comments

I was watching TV last night and and was shocked at what I saw during an ad for Universal Studios Hollywood. So shocked that I whipped out my iPhone and took the picture above of my TV screen.

Can you tell what’s wrong with this picture? Let me give you a hint. There’s a spelling error. Got it yet?

Okay, here’s what’s wrong. The word “whoa” is misspelled. The word “whoa,” as most everyone knows, is used to express surprise, interest, or alarm, or to command a horse to make it stop or slow down, or to urge a person to stop or wait.

In the case of this commercial though, it’s used as a play on the phrase, “Let yourself go,” meaning to relax and behave much more freely than usual; to be unrestrained or uninhibited. In other words, to have fun.

But here’s the rub. There is only one correct way to spell the word “whoa.” And that one way is w-h-o-a.

It’s not “woah.”

It’s not “whoah.”

It’s not “waoh” or “whao” or “whaoh.”

It’s “whoa.”

And it’s only “whoa.”

Even if you’re British or Canadian or Australian, it’s still “whoa.”

I’m just really surprised that the copy editor at the advertising agency for Universal Studios Hollywood didn’t catch the misspelling of the word “whoa.” Unless it was done intentionally to get the attention of someone like me, who, were it not for that misspelling, would never have paid attention to that commercial.

But if they missed it and don’t care that they spelled “whoa” wrong…well, all I can say is woe unto you, Universal Studios Hollywood.

SoCS — Whatever

Fandango15 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill asks us to use the word “whatever” any way we’d like. Okay, whatever.

When our daughter was a teenager, she used “whatever” or “um, whatever” all the time. Except she wouldn’t pronounce it the normal way, as I do when I express, for example, my core philosophy of life, “whatever floats your boat.” No, the way she said it was “what-EVER,” and the word was often accompanied by an exaggerated eye roll. 🙄 She was essentially saying to me, “Just stop, Dad. No one cares. Get a life.”

I used to really hate when she said that. She was blowing off whatever it was that I had just said to her as being totally unworthy of her time or attention and that she had no interest whatsoever in whatever I was talking about. I swore that I would never respond to either a question or a statement from someone with the one word response of “whatever.”

But yesterday afternoon, when my wife asked me what I wanted for dinner last night, I shrugged and said, “whatever.” And then, when she told me that it looked like Russia was going to be invading Ukraine and that Putin was likely going to target its capital city of Kyiv, my response to her was a dismissive “whatever.”

I’m so ashamed…or whatever.

P.S. you may have noticed that one of the “Topics of Interest (i.e., categories) I have on my blog called “Whatever.” And so far, I’ve used that category 70 times over the years. With this post, it will be 71 times.

Three Fibbing Friday Additions

Fandango13 Comments

In today’s Fibbing Friday prompt, Di (aka Pensitivity101), gave us ten unusual words and asked us to come up with our own definitions of those words. My definitions are here.

Coincidentally (perhaps), three of the daily word prompts today also seem to be unusual weird words:

  • Poltroon from Ragtag Daily Prompt.
  • Pismire from Word of the Day Challenge.
  • Vesicle from E.M.’s Random Word Prompt.

Normally I take the prompt words from five to eight bloggers who host these daily prompts and try to weave them into a tight, cohesive bit of flash fiction. But to be frank, these three weird words are words that I’d never heard of before and I have absolutely no clue how I might come up with a story that incorporates these words into it without it sounding totally contrived.

So, instead, I have decided to follow Di’s Fibbing Friday lead and come up with my own definitions for these weird words.

  • Poltroon: In the U.S. Army, the poltroon is the small group of men who are responsible for raising and lowering the American flag on the flagpole each day. The bugler plays Reveille when the flag is raised each morning and Taps when it is lowered each evening by the designated poltroon member of the day.
  • Pismire: This is the name for a severe urinary tract infection that causes excruciating pain when you try to take a leak.
  • Vesicle: This is a brand name of a manufacturer of electric bicycles.

How about you? How would you define these three unusual or weird words?

SoCS — Jail

Fandango15 Comments

For today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill, we are asked to “open a book, a newspaper, or whatever is handy and close your eyes and point. Whatever word or picture your finger lands on, make that the basis of your SoCS/JusJoJan post.”

Alrighty then. I reached for the latest edition of The Week magazine, closed my eyes, opened the magazine up to a random page, placed my finger on that page, and then opened my eyes. My finger was on the word “jail.” It was contained in a short article about a Vermont home listed for sale that includes a jail in its basement. Here’s a picture that accompanied the article.Why anyone would want a home with a jail in the basement, I surely don’t know. But the article went on to say that the real estate agent who listed the house was encouraging prospective buyers to dream up new uses for the jail cells. “Bring your own ideas on what this 28’ x 40’ wing could be,” the circular advertising the house said.

Hmm. Maybe I’ll buy the place and offer to lease the basement to the U.S. government, just in case they’re in the market for a venue to house a certain corrupt former President.

Photo credit: Realtor.com.