good friends - new word
While doing a web search for a great and glorious something else, my consciousness collided with a new word (to me anyway) but I’ll speak more of it later.
Since my retirement, one of my main duties is that of a gofer and on this particular day, a while back, I was out and about to accomplish several errands. The last one of these was to pick up some grocery items necessary to complete the evening’s menu, as we were having some very good friends over for supper.
Some may consider dinner as the evening meal but I was raised that this particular chow time was supper and one shouldn’t go against their raisin’ – unless they were raised to steal, cheat and lie. The meal in the middle of the day used to be dinner to me but it has gradually been converted in my mind to lunch – but supper still stays the same. To me the word is just more comfortable and family oriented – I guess you had to be there.
Back to the grocery – over the years my overly acute sense of smell has at times been a blessing and at others, a curse. This was brought back to my attention as I was wheeling my buggy (cart to some) down one of the aisles. As I passed by a female person, it felt like her perfume reached out and grabbed me by the nose almost as if with a rusty pair of pliers and did a complete body slam to my olfactory sensitivities.
In case you were wondering whether this was a good or bad experience – no body slam is a good one. It took the passage of about three aisles to release myself form the stench of the perfume – yes, I said stench. The same person must have visited dairy as well because the odor slapped me in the nose again over there. I do not tolerate any perfume very well, but whatever happened to just a hint of scent and the subtle nuances of fragrance?
Finally escaping into the fresh air, I made my way back home with the necessary purchases and set about aiding and abetting the wife in supper prep. Our guests arrived and even though we were a bit tardy in the finishing touches, nothing was burned or spilled and we placed the dishes on the table.
Grace was said and we fell upon the sustenance with great gusto – especially me, since in all the excitement of the day I had failed to partake of lunch. It was a great time of food, fun and fellowship – three of my favorite things – the saddest thing of the evening was when they had to leave.
The aforementioned new found word is slacktivism and the following is a condensation of an article found in Snopes.com: >> E-petitions are the latest manifestation of slacktivism, which is the search for the ultimate feel-good that derives from having come to society’s rescue without having had to actually get one’s hands dirty or open one’s wallet. For many, e-petitions satisfy the need to feel they are doing good and thus somewhat quell that nagging feeling they should be doing more to make the world a better place. That nothing is getting accomplished is almost beside the point; we believe we’ve been part of something worthwhile and so feel better about ourselves.
Paper-and-ink petitions are signed in a variety of handwriting styles, each unique to its signer. Consequently, signatures on one of these cannot be easily faked else certain glaring similarities would show up in one entry after another. E-petitions come with no such assurance – the same person could have generated all of the signatures. Those in a position to influence anything know this and thus accord e-petitions only slightly more respect than they would a blank sheet of paper. << We live in a strange world – I need to pray more. ec
Since my retirement, one of my main duties is that of a gofer and on this particular day, a while back, I was out and about to accomplish several errands. The last one of these was to pick up some grocery items necessary to complete the evening’s menu, as we were having some very good friends over for supper.
Some may consider dinner as the evening meal but I was raised that this particular chow time was supper and one shouldn’t go against their raisin’ – unless they were raised to steal, cheat and lie. The meal in the middle of the day used to be dinner to me but it has gradually been converted in my mind to lunch – but supper still stays the same. To me the word is just more comfortable and family oriented – I guess you had to be there.
Back to the grocery – over the years my overly acute sense of smell has at times been a blessing and at others, a curse. This was brought back to my attention as I was wheeling my buggy (cart to some) down one of the aisles. As I passed by a female person, it felt like her perfume reached out and grabbed me by the nose almost as if with a rusty pair of pliers and did a complete body slam to my olfactory sensitivities.
In case you were wondering whether this was a good or bad experience – no body slam is a good one. It took the passage of about three aisles to release myself form the stench of the perfume – yes, I said stench. The same person must have visited dairy as well because the odor slapped me in the nose again over there. I do not tolerate any perfume very well, but whatever happened to just a hint of scent and the subtle nuances of fragrance?
Finally escaping into the fresh air, I made my way back home with the necessary purchases and set about aiding and abetting the wife in supper prep. Our guests arrived and even though we were a bit tardy in the finishing touches, nothing was burned or spilled and we placed the dishes on the table.
Grace was said and we fell upon the sustenance with great gusto – especially me, since in all the excitement of the day I had failed to partake of lunch. It was a great time of food, fun and fellowship – three of my favorite things – the saddest thing of the evening was when they had to leave.
The aforementioned new found word is slacktivism and the following is a condensation of an article found in Snopes.com: >> E-petitions are the latest manifestation of slacktivism, which is the search for the ultimate feel-good that derives from having come to society’s rescue without having had to actually get one’s hands dirty or open one’s wallet. For many, e-petitions satisfy the need to feel they are doing good and thus somewhat quell that nagging feeling they should be doing more to make the world a better place. That nothing is getting accomplished is almost beside the point; we believe we’ve been part of something worthwhile and so feel better about ourselves.
Paper-and-ink petitions are signed in a variety of handwriting styles, each unique to its signer. Consequently, signatures on one of these cannot be easily faked else certain glaring similarities would show up in one entry after another. E-petitions come with no such assurance – the same person could have generated all of the signatures. Those in a position to influence anything know this and thus accord e-petitions only slightly more respect than they would a blank sheet of paper. << We live in a strange world – I need to pray more. ec
posted by mreddie | 5:02 PM
8 Comments:
'Slactivism'. Now, thats not something you hear every day...that lady needed to slack off the perfume.
Mr Eddie ~~ Interesting as usual.
It is good to have good friends and share a meal and conversation
with them. I doubt if I will
need to use that word -slactivism
but thanks anyway. Cheers.
Like you we had dinner as the midday meal, the transition to lunch was fairly painless, our evening meal though was tea, dinner in the evening was reserved for special "dining out" occasions, supper was a snack before bed.
Yes, there are perfumes that have that same body slam have impact on me. Thankfully, I’ve not dated a woman who wore one in about 40 years.
Re: “Slacktivism” and “E-petitions”: I think I’ll do my best to add neither to my vocabulary.
When living in Canada we always called it super, but it meant something else here in NZ, so I've come to call it dinner now, other kiwi's call it tea - which confuses me terribly. hehe.
Ahhh... just read Peter's comment - that's exactly what it's like here. Tea, then super. BIZARRE!
I still like the word super.
As for smells... my nose is like yours! There are some perfumes that have wafted my way, and made me run to the bathroom, it's that bad. When I'm sick, it's the smells around me that completely knock me over. Of course, it's also smells that kick up memories for me too.
YES... PRAY MORE! :)
bonita - Some perfumes give me a headache - even have trouble with most aftershave scents. Finally found an aftershave gel that seemed to agree with me and my beloved liked as well.
merle - One friend and I can be together about 30 seconds and be laughing hysterically - same oddball sense of humor.
peter - Way back when I was in the army, I worked with British soldiers and many differences of customs were noted and we both were entertained by them.
SSN - Worked with Proctor and Gamble in one of their soap divisions for a short while - this is where I first noticed my major aversion to scents.
UUTW - My thought is this about the evening meal - just call me when it's ready. :) The perfume thing has struck me several times at church and I would come home feeling better in the soul, but worse in the headache department. ec
I have almost no sense of smell but some of those perfumes are just too much.
We've always had breakfast, lunch and dinner in that order. Of course, that does not count in between snacks and such.
TMG - My wife says that I eat just one meal a day, but it happens to last all day! :) ec
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