Random Thoughts

Malachi's fingernails, for some reason, seem to always be longer than everyone else's. I feel like I'm always having to cut them. (The toenails, on the other hand, never grow at all.) When I cast my baleful eye on this thumbnail, Ky begged me not to cut it because he wanted to set the world record for Longest Fingernail. I told him we'd take a picture of it instead. (I told him he really, really didn't want the world record. Please don't click on that link.) Poor boy, I am stifling his dreams!

I resent being forced (metaphorically speaking, of course) to use silly words and phrases by the increasingly inane names of baby products on the market. I feel faintly ridiculous every time I have to yell across the house, "Will you find the snappi for me?" or "Is the boppy down there?" or "Sebastian, you're too big to sit in the bumbo!"

It reminds me of how my friend who worked at Papa John's used to hate having to say, "Do you want to 'Papa-Size' that?" to her customers. Or the large fries at Wendy's---I never order them because I don't want to infantilize myself by asking for "Biggie Size."

I have no problem using babyish words, actually (I say "get in beddy" instead of bed, more often than not, and I can't remember the last time I washed anything other than someone's toesies in the bath)---but I want to use them on my own terms; that is, when I WANT to, not when I'm forced to by marketers trying to be cute.*

Speaking of words, I love the Oxford Words Blog. I can't get enough of stuff like this and this and this. I had an online subscription to the OED in my misspent youth, but it's long-since lapsed. This blog fills the void.

Still speaking of words, Sam employed a particularly good usage of "purchase" the other day: "My feet are over here scrambling for purchase on the footstool." You don't hear it in that sense often, but I like it. So apt.

We bought a new car awhile ago, and before we purchased** it I was reading up online about its features. Several articles talked about how quiet it was and, as our current car always seemed rather loud, I was quite excited to experience this for myself. But several weeks later, as we drove down the freeway listening to music in the new car, I found that I still couldn't hear the music very well and we still had to raise our voices to talk to each other. It was then that it occurred to me that . . . maybe the noise level of the car had more to do with the six children inside the car than with the noise reduction features provided by the car manufacturer! I'm so perceptive.

*See discussion of MyRewards, etc. here
**Here we have the more common usage, for your enjoyment