conuly

However, none on my butt or the front, so I figured that if I sat still we could still hang out at the playground we'd just gotten two and we'd be fine. No need to rush home, I had pads with me, I'd be just as bloody there as here, right? (Oxyclean got it right out. I mean, if you really get close and stare you can see there's some kinda stain, but anybody's that close to my crotch I'm gonna assume at this point that my pants are OFF and I don't very much care.) Of course, I kinda wished I'd brought my kanga, or that it was a little colder and I had a sweater, so I could wrap it around my waist. My mom interjects as I'm telling her this amazing story of Oxyclean with "Yeah, right, like anybody doesn't know what THAT'S all about, every woman knows that one!" to which I can only say "Yeah, maybe it is like saying 'I'm bleeding through my crotch, wanna make sumthin' outta it?', but is that really any worse than potentially showing the world your massive bloodstain on your pants?"

But then I got to wondering... do guys know what's up when somebody just randomly ties her jacket (or convenient kanga/sarong) around her waist?

This woman was very upset that 24 words are being removed from the Collin's English Dictionary due to lack of use, so she's selling them on ribbons. (Her explanation sounds better.)

Frankly, if any dictionary is removing these 24 words, I can see why. Not only can I not remember the last time I used them, I'm fairly confident that there was never even a first time I used them! I or anybody else living and breathing except maybe the lexicographers.

But some of them are nice. I particularly like skirr, olid, oppugnant, nitid, and niddering. But when would I use them? I could describe something as "nitid", but then I'd have to explain that I mean "bright or glossy", and if I mean "bright or glossy" why not just say that it's bright or glossy to begin with? The advantage to bright and glossy is that everybody knows what they mean and the goal of communication is realized. Same thing with niddering - it sounds better than cowardly and despicable, but if I want to describe somebody or something in those words I'd rather just do it outright with all the vitriol I can bring. It loses a bit of its punch when you have to explain what you meant to the person you just insulted.

Now, olid, we can do something with. A language can never have enough words to describe stinky farts, after all. And skirr has the advantage of being vaguely onomatopoeic, so any situation where it's likely to occur may be self-explanatory. And oppugnant *also* sounds like what it means through the advantage of being made up of more commonly found morphemes. But when it comes right down to it, I suspect I'm more likely to choose a more readily understood word in the end.

Fairly interesting, but the real attraction is at the link in the article.

GoTopless

See, you're reading along about history, and equality, and toplessness, and we've got some pictures and it's all well and good until suddenly, apropos of nothing, we get:

Who can participate? We welcome everyone! GoTopless was founded by the Raelian Movement, which recognizes that life on Earth was created by advanced extraterrestrial scientists. These scientists, both male and female, used their mastery of genetic engineering to create humans in their own image (breasts included!). GoTopless includes thousands of women and men, who have a wide variety of beliefs, affiliations, etc...

Right. Well, I cherish the right of all people to believe what they want to believe. I suppose randomly stating your belief that humans were created by aliens is, in fact, no weirder than if the same site had randomly stated that they're members of any more conventional faith. (Which just goes to show that there's a time and a place. Not everything needs to be linked to your religion.)

This is them. I don't think I'm converting any time soon, but then, I'm also not converting to any older and more established belief systems. In 500 years, who knows what people will think?