Tag Archives: prompts

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’25 A To Z Challenge – W

I’ve already published a post about The Whichness Of The Why, and the only word(s) left on my prompt list for W is

WHIMSY/WHIMSICAL

capricious humor or disposition; extravagant, fanciful, or excessively playful expression
an odd or fanciful notion.
anything odd or fanciful; a product of playful or capricious fancy.

I’ve also had two posts about JUXTAPOSITION, and I worried about justifying the concept of Whimsy/Being Whimsical against my carefully crafted and presented Grumpy Old Dude persona. I know that I publish a significant amount of Friday fibs, one-liners and jokes, but I take comedy seriously, regarding it as psycho-social commentary.  Also, I present it at carefully scheduled times.  It can hardly be called capricious.  I guess I’ll just have to settle for odd or fanciful.

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’25 A To Z Challenge – O

HELP!!

Someone stole my blog-post prompt word for the letter O.

Never mind – it was me.

Pensitivity101 distracted me with a Fibbing Friday list, and I put the word

OBFUSCATE

here.  It means to make something unclear or hard to understand, especially deliberately, which I don’t approve of doing – except to get my cheap laugh.

I discovered roller skating at about 15 and used it as a means of exercise and entertainment for 50 years.  With my lack of balance and muscle control, I was never really good at it, but I liked it.  When I moved to this town, there was one roller rink.  Roller skating continued to increase in popularity, until three new rinks were built.  After about 15 years, and the introduction of roller blades, popularity waned.  One rink became a furniture store, one a pharmacy, and one became a dance club.

The original rink held on for years, but as attendance dwindled, eventually found that they could generate more income by offering the space for seminars, craft shows, wedding receptions, and company banquets.  I took to driving 15 miles to our Tri-City, to a rink a block off the Golden Mile.  Finally the value of the land was greater as a hotel, than a roller rink.

For over ten years, there has not been a rink within 75 miles – which is probably a good thing for me, or I might have been seduced into something foolish.  I still own my skates, and a carry-case.  The pendulum is swinging again.  Interest in roller skating – and roller derby – is on the rise.  A small shopping plaza, a mile from the house has put out a roadside sign, announcing the imminent opening of a roller rink.

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Ask – And You Will Be Answered

Interview someone — a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman — and write a post based on their responses.

A Friend – Am I as crazy as I believe you think I am??!
We did not become friends so that you could get free psychotherapy.  Swallow the meds that you can take with alcohol, and break us each out a tall-can of that good, dark ale.  After a few of those, we’ll know which one – or both – of us is crazy…. But it won’t matter.

Another Blogger – Can I ask you a few questions?
Uh…. Possibly….  What questions?
Damned if I know!  I’m just supposed to interview someone.  The prompt didn’t say what it was supposed to be about.  A lot of times, I just question myself.  Sometimes I have answers.  Sometimes I don’t.  Are zebras white, with black stripes – or black, with white stripes??  If a centipede a pint, and a velocipede a quart, how much would a precipice??!

Your Mother – Mom, I’d like to ask you some questions. Mom??  Mommm??!….  I don’t think this Ouija Board thing is working.  Do I have to move it nearer to the cemetery?  I wonder what their Wi-Fi password is.

The Mailman – Can I ask you a few questions about your job?  How did you become a postman?  How big is your bag??  Do you like your job?  What is the greatest benefit, and disadvantage?
ALL INQUIRIES ABOUT CANADA POSTAL SERVICE MUST BE MADE IN TRIPLICATE – ONE QUESTION PER ENVELOPE, BY REGISTERED MAIL.  EACH SUBMISSION MUST BE ACCOMPANIED WITH A $25 CERTIFIED CHEQUE – MAIL TO CANADA POST 199 OVERLOOK AVE, OTTAWA, ON.  QUESTIONS MAY ALSO BE SUBMITTED ONLINE @ canadapost.fu/disdain  PLEASE HAVE VALID VISA, MASTERCARD OR DEBIT HANDY

No wonder I talk to myself.  I’m the smartest guy in the room.  Speaking of which…. Could somebody let me out??  This canvas jacket is beginning to chafe.  😮

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Smitty’s Loose Change #26

THE CONTINUING STUPIDIFICATION OF AMERICA

If someone posts a ‘Don’t Do This’ warning, you can be sure that it’s because some idiot done it.
We recently purchased a new, matched pair of PetPro washer and dryer.  Each has a special filter to remove (pet) hair from laundry.  In large, bold letters, the operator’s manual for both clearly state

WARNING: DO NOT PUT PET IN MACHINE

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Americans put the month first in dates.  Europeans are confused to see 11/31/24.
I’d be confused too!  Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November.

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English cities whose names end in –WICK, come from “vicus,” which was the town that grew up around Roman forts – like Chadwick, or Warwick, which lazy British tongues have slurred to ‘Warrick.’  I had thought that cities whose name ends in –WICH were just examples of further linguistic evolution.

Recently the son read an article that showed that the term is Anglo-Saxon, and refers to places where salt is produced.  Sandwich was down at the seashore, and Woolwich – which lazy British tongues have slurred to ‘Woolich’, was probably near a salt-marsh, where sheep grazed.

Salt was rare, treasured, labor-intensive to produce, and expensive.  The word ‘salary’ is because Roman soldiers were paid, at least in part, with salt.  It gave rise to expressions like, Salt of the Earth, and Worth his salt.

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What are you curious about?
George – and Yellow.

What positive emotion do you feel most often?
I am positive that I’m sick and tired of these stupid prompts.

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My cat has eaten a part of my body.
One of my cats can occasionally be very insecure and demanding, wanting to be cuddled on my ample lap shelf, and firmly stroked, his spine thumped, nuzzled and purred to while he is purring at me.  Since we’re nose to nose, he does to me what a kitten would do to its mother; he licks around my mouth, down my unshaven chin, up my cheeks, across one or both eyebrows, and sometimes into my ear.  With a 60-grit rough tongue, he does a great job of exfoliating my face.  All those dead skin cells gotta go someplace.

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I recently downloaded the blog-prompt title, Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.  I may eventually do that.  Below it, I added a note – Magnet poles, meth-head panhandlers dozing off.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is why I don’t do drugs.  I have no F**kin’ idea what that means!!?  😮

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I just found a new record for the shortest chapter in a book – five words.
Joey and Tommy kept laughing.
It even had a chapter title LAUGHING – large print.
The action hero – the guy who takes on assassins, and squads of police – had to admit to his friends, how a 92-year-old woman knocked him down a flight of stairs with a walking stick that folded out to a seat, because she thought he was robbing apartments.  Semper paratus.

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How do Amish girls know if it’s a romantic, candlelit dinner – or just a regular dinner?

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’23 A To Z Challenge – Y

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.   I am caught on a cleft stick.  Y do I get myself in these predicaments?  Y don’t I plan ahead, and work ahead??  Y??  Because we love you!

M  I  C  K  E  Y
A  R  C  H  O  N

Recently I’ve had some trouble coming up with ideas for blog-themes.  I am not above accepting random prompts.  A couple of years ago, Daniel Digby, over at The Infrequent Atheist challenged me to do something with/about the word

YCLEPT

A careful study has revealed that it is impossible, but here I go, anyway.
‘Clept’ or ‘cleped,’ is a Middle English verb that simply means, “named.”  I don’t know why they couldn’t just say so.  The ‘Y’ prefix indicates ‘to’ or ‘toward.’  A high school Literature text included a reference to a ‘Star ypointing pyramid.’

Women who marry, or die, often have the word ‘nee’ (or née) added to their notification.  It’s a French word that does not precisely mean ‘previously named,’ but rather, “born,” as, that was the surname they were born with.

Atheist and Pagan children, as well as all other non-Christian babies, are not “christened,” or assigned “Christian” names.  They are designated identifying first, given names.  In today’s increasingly cosmopolitan North American culture, it is not a good idea to ask for someone’s “Christian” name – far better to refer to ‘first’ name, or ‘given’ name.

I have been named the best author on this entire blog-site – as well as a few epithets from Richard Pryor videos.  Let’s call it a day.  😎