Worrying
Grandad December 13th, 2007
I was fast asleep this morning, when I got a dig in the ribs.
"You’re coughing in your sleep. Take a drink of water." says Herself.
So I stirred myself. But Sandy, my dog was by my bed waiting for me to wake up. She does that. She just sits there patiently. She won’t disturb me until I move, and then she gives me a face-wash. I got a face-wash.
I also realised I needed a pee.
Herself was back snoring at this stage and I was wide awake.
I started to worry about things.
Why is ‘polysyllabic’ a polysyllabic word, but ‘monosyllabic’ isn’t?
Why is the word ‘big’ smaller that the word ’small’?
Why is ‘hyphenated’ a non-hyphenated word while ‘non-hyphenated’ is hyphenated?
I got up and had my pee.
There was no point in going back to bed as I was wide awake and worrying.
So much to worry about.
So little time to worry.
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I wouldn’t worry about it!
Why not? What are you not telling me? Now I’m worried…
Ooooo….
Monosyllabic, non-hyphenated…
Such lovely long words, and I thought those had been cast out from this island as Patrick cast out the snakes all those years ago. At least you’d think so, reading the Indo et.al.
But as a librarian, I just can’t help offering help, especially when words are involved (sorry about this):
For ‘monosyllabic’, use SHORT, and problem solved.
Throw out ‘non-hyphenated’ and use UNHYPHENATED instead; or better still, throw out the idea of hyphens altogether–they’re evil.
For ‘big’, use GIGANTIC, GARGANTUAN, or TREMENDOUS. They’re all appropriately larger than the word ’small’.
Now, back to sleep.
No, Susan, they were cast out when bbbbBertie came to power, because he doesn’t know what they mean or how to say them.
Monosyllabic does not mean short, and well you know it. That’s cheating.
Unhyphenated works, but what happens to it [and hyphenated] if I throw out hyphens?
Big means big. It is the opposite of small. The others are superlatives I would be reluctant to use.
I was asleep until the PC beeped to tell me there was a comment. Thanks!
Grandad,
I woke at 1.40 this morning and wondered why Christmas had to be at such a busy time of the year (and why people will argue until they are blue in the face that there were three Wise Men in the Nativity Story)
Ian - I did suggest moving it to another date in September? And how about the theory that the wise men were in fact Buddhist monks in search of the reincarnated Dali Lama?
I think the general view is that the Magi were Zoroastrians - a fascinating ancient Persian religion - magi were their priests.
Mid October would suit me fine for Christmas - right in the middle of the month.
Zoroastrians? They went around with masks, capes and swords and carving big Z’s on things? Christmas in July would be good or me.
I often wonder what Travellers do for their holidays. Do they stay put?
Jack - You have to have Christmas outside normal holiday time otherwise you wouldn’t get extra time off work.
Sneezy - Stoppit. Now I have something else to worry about.
Why is abbreviation such a long word?
Sneezy,
Most of them seem to come to Dublin for Christmas and a lot used to come to my door. I used to put together bags of groceries, until two years ago. I was driving a ‘97 Nissan Micra and I watched one woman take one of the bags I had made up, ask if that’s all there was, and get into an 05 Volkswagen van. I now help three families I know during the year, and that’s it. I’ll send the remainder to Grandad.
Do the Germans use hyphens? They have some brilliant words for bits of cars - things like
Rückfahrscheinwerfer - five syllables for a simple reversing light!
5h4mr0(k - You are worse than Sneezy. I’ll never sleep tonight.
Ian - I look forward to the groceries. As long as they are not in German?
Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?
Why, when I want to turn off my PC do I have to click Start?
Hmmm… all good points.
No point in me trying to get anything else done today - i have mysteries of the world to mull over.
Grandad you might find this interesting
Word History: Worrying may shorten one’s life, but not as quickly as it once did. The ancestor of our word, Old English wyrgan, meant “to strangle.” Its Middle English descendant, worien, kept this sense and developed the new sense “to grasp by the throat with the teeth and lacerate” or “to kill or injure by biting and shaking.” This is the way wolves or dogs might attack sheep, for example. In the 16th century worry began to be used in the sense “to harass, as by rough treatment or attack,” or “to assault verbally,” and in the 17th century the word took on the sense “to bother, distress, or persecute.” It was a small step from this sense to the main modern senses “to cause to feel anxious or distressed” and “to feel troubled or uneasy,” first recorded in the 19th century.
Some people worry about the Third World, genocide etc.
Good to see people still worry about the little things!
Brianf - “Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?” I park out front and drive on the road?
As for computers - ?????
Alan - That’s good. Worrying is getting less severe, so? I’ll postpone my worrying until next year so…
Brian D - That’s too big for me. I’d do myself some damage. I’ll leave that to Bad Ambassador. He seems to be a professional worrier?
I look forward to the groceries. As long as they are not in German?
I just hope Ian doesn’t shop in Lidl then.
Wouldn’t bother me though. I can speak, eat and drink in German. And herself can fart in Russian. Impressed?
Why do things have more than one word for them?
It’s time to get the GP to re-think your prescriptions Grandad
Grandad,
Here is nice lullaby if you should wake up tonight.
It was sent by the eleven year old son of a friend in England.
http://bebo.com/FlashBox.jsp?FlashBoxId=1022687222&MID=3611618708
Sneezy - I am very impressed! Could you please send me a recording of a Russian fart please? I would like to have it as a ringtone on my phone.
OFTR - Why not just have one word for everything? It would make learning other languages very easy. But I bet bbbBertie would still get it wrong..
Roy - Do you think so?
Ian - That is good!! Tell your friend he is doing a great job of child rearing.