In our ever changing world of words there is the constant need to invent new terms and phrases to describe never-before experienced….. experiences. I’m certain that is one thing that makes translating between languages so difficult at times—-how do you describe “snow” for instance to a tropical culture that has no need for such a word? How do you translateone of the 10 or so words for “snow” in the language of Eskimos into English, a language with no such subtleties and still convey the right nuance of meaning?
Of course, technology has greatly influenced the world of words. New ones are popping up all the time. Not so very long ago, RAM was a male sheep with a propensity for butting, and ROM, a male gypsy with a propensity for wearing colorful headgear and large earrings. And whoever heard of a BLOG? My very own brother, who works in the computer fixing and optimizing field admitted to me a couple of weeks ago that he only recently learned about BLOGS. I told him he was missing all the fun!
So, this brings me (finally you may say) to my point. When my UltraSon was home for a visit about a month ago, I excitedly told him many things that had happened in our lives since we had last spoken. But, often, he knew all about them already? How? Why from UltraMom BLOGS on the Dynamic Duo, of course! I was surprised and flattered that he knew and remembered every little detail about things I had half-forgotten myself. When I mentioned my surprise, he informed my that this is a common phenomenon for Bloggers. Said UltraBob to me “I am always meeting people for the first time who already know all about me from my Blogs. It’s called…....” and here I get a bit fuzzy. I think he called it something like Blog Awareness Phenomenon or StrangersFeelLikeTheyKnowMeFromReadingMyBlogs or something like that. I suggested “The Twilight Zone”, but Ultra informed me it was very unoriginal. I maintain, however, that it was original at one time…....just not at this time.
So I hereby propose a new term : Deja Blogue. It’s catchy and descriptive and has the added plus of familiarity. By riding on the waves of a phrase that is already well known and widely in use, half the battle of acceptabilty and useage is already won!
AntiPixel: Congratulations on your 5,000th post comment. Great prizes!
MediaTinker: Too bad about your garden, but maybe its for the best.
Cerebral Soup: I TOTALLY empathize with you about the diet thing. Donuts, especially Krispy Kreme are my favorites!
And Akatombo, Congrats on winning the great Anitpixel 5,000th comment prizes.
Yup, Deja Blogue
Familiarly Yours,
UltraMom
I had an interesting experience this morning; a privelege and duty of being an American: JURY DUTY! I have received those summons before, but this was the first time I actually had to go so far as to show up at the courthouse. If I had to sum up my morning in a single action word it would be WAIT. Wait for all the jurors to show up (60 in all). Wait for something to HAPPEN. Watch the video telling us how the judicial system works and how lucky we are to be chosen, and then wait some more. Then the judge gave us a little talk and the court clerk produced a box (looked like a cigar box, but who knows) and started drawing out names. 32 lucky people would be in the jury pool. It seems to me that the process would have gone a lot more smoothly if the box had only contained the names of jurors who were actually sitting in the courtroom. Every other name drawn was of a juror who had already been excused or one who (we presume) would be in BIG trouble for simply not showing up. Finally we got to the good part: the magical questions that if answered correctly get you out of the courtroom and back to your life. Finisia, a local character, was the first to be excused. Finisia drives about town in a horsedrawn wagon wearing long skirts and a cowboy style hat. Her “letters to the editor” are locally famous. I can hardly ever make any sense of them; they seem to be tirades against anything and everyone she has ever known. Finisia informed the judge that she didn’t believe in the judicial system, that she personally did not enjoy any of the constitutionally guaranteed ‘freedoms’ and was readily dismissed by the judge, much to the relief of the other jurors. Then there were the “are you related to, do you work with , do you have any previous knowledge of, have you been involved in a case such as this before, etc, etc, etc. questions. As jurors were excused, other names were drawn. Now came the biggest Wait of all; the attorneys had to narrow that group down to 12, and took turns writing down names for elimination. I think they took about 5-10 minutes per name. Seriously. The most exciting part came when one of the jurors (a MALE juror, no less) asked the judge for a bathroom break. As usual, the line to the women’s was a mile long, while the men just skipped right in and out. UltraMom and a few others crossed the gender line and used the empty loo.
In conclusion, UM never heard her name called out, and was excused after a mere 3 hours. For the record, UB, Uncle Bill was there, and was even part of the hallowed 32, but was excused by one of the attorneys. Probably by the Defense. He is fairly physically imposing, and spent the whole morning scowling.
Actually, in other circumstances I wouldn’t mind being part of a jury trial. I think it could be interesting. But this was a child molestation case. I’m afraid impartiality would have been a bit of a problem.
Judically yours,
UltraMom
