The less I have to leave the house, the more I’m reminded how rude and idiotic so many (too many!) drivers are when I’m out there among them — and they’re usually men in pickups! Early this morning we needed to get Ali’s car into the shop for body work following her recent hit-and-run incident (with a pickup), so I followed Steve to the repair shop, we dropped off the car, I dropped him off at work, and proceeded to head to a grocery store in heavy morning traffic. When I needed to turn left at a busy intersection, I calmly waited through two green arrows and still didn’t make it through, but was finally at the head of the line ready to try to sneak through at the tail end of the regular green light if traffic offered the chance. However, a very important pickup driver (apparently) way back in line decided he was in too much of a hurry to wait in the left turn lane himself, so he pulled out into the free-flowing lane going straight. Only instead of going straight, he whipped to a stop right in front of me in the middle of the intersection, making it difficult for even oncoming traffic to proceed! When the oncoming traffic finally offered the only available opening for a turn before the light turned red, of course he took it, leaving me waiting for a third green arrow. What is it about a pickup that can turn an otherwise rational, middle-aged man into a road-raged, inconsiderate jerk?
Archive for May, 2008
The Almighty Pickup
Posted in Everyday Life, tagged jerk drivers, pickups, traffic on 05 May 2008| 1 Comment »
Divisive Pronunciation
Posted in Everyday Life, Vote 2008, tagged dictionary, divisive, Obama on 02 May 2008| 5 Comments »
Adjective. Tending to cause disagreement or discord.
It certainly causes disagreement and discord with me! With Bush as Texas Governor and then President, I’m used to mispronunciation of words in his speeches, but since Obama’s words are usually so eloquent, his pronunciation of “divisive” in his speech on race in America weeks ago as though it were “divissive” caught my attention. I didn’t mention it then and thought perhaps he just misspoke, but he repeated it within the same speech and since at other times. Just now, watching MSNBC Live, news correspondent Andrea Mitchell pronounced “divisiveness” the same way! Thinking maybe I’ve been mispronouncing variations of this word my entire life, I checked my online dictionary pronunciation guides, including any available audio. Even British audio indicates a long i sound, and only Merriam-Webster offers the alternate “short i” pronunciation as though the word were spelled “divissive.”
Will public speakers all be afraid to sound stupid now if they don’t adopt this alternate, but less popular pronunciation? I’m “dividded” on this issue. You’ve let me down, Webster.
Whoo Goes There?
Posted in Everyday Life, Uncategorized, tagged owl on 01 May 2008| 2 Comments »
I awoke this morning at the crack of dawn — literally. Of course, our “granddogs” want fed and out as soon as I stir, but when Chief ran out the door I heard a great flapping noise. He stopped suddenly beside the pool, postured in a defensive stance, and started to bark. When Sarge followed, he too stayed close to the house, but seemed content to act as a back up and let Chief take charge. With barely any light, I couldn’t see anything. Still not sure what I had heard, there was suddenly a new noise that closely resembled the barking of a wild dog, but was more rhythmic and repetitive like a bird call. What did we have in the yard? A coyote? An owl? Is that what originally woke me? Our lazy Phoebe wasn’t ready to get up and protect me I guess. She slept through the whole thing.
I decided it must have been an owl since the original noise sounded more like fluttering or flapping than anything else and there was a distinctive pattern to its bark-like call. I Googled “owl sounds like a dog” to find that some owls do indeed sound like a dog, and there were even several recordings made of barred owls heard in Texas, and of great horned owls, which are also found in Texas.
Living where we do, we often hear the typical hooting of owls nearby and it’s not my first encounter with an owl in the yard. (No, I don’t mean our fake one to keep birds out of one of our front trees.) Years ago when I was out doing some early morning gardening by our wooded creek, a huge owl swooped almost silently over my head, flying from one tall tree to its hollowed out nesting place in another. It was more the shadow it cast as it flew overhead than the noise that alerted me, but I was impressed with its enormous wingspan, and pleased to discover its secret home.
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