Good morning,
Strictly potpourri on this Tuesday:
WHY CAN’T WE JUST GET ALONG?
I’ve been trying for years to figure out why people of good faith but different ideas can’t work to find common ground. Susie Whyte Simon reminds me when in college, we held a party and invited both the Trojan Republicans and the Trojan Democrats. There were so many people, we had to expand into Susie’s larger apartment. And what would seem startling today is that everyone got along and argued policy and politics late into the evening. The disputes were not about underlying values (which we generally shared), but how to get to a desired shared vision by the best means possible. There is something to be said about people with different programs but the same basic ideals getting together and partying.
ALTERNATIVE DEFINITIONS
The Washington Post published submissions to a yearly contest asking readers to provide alternative meanings to common words. The winners were:
1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
ADDITIONAL GRAMMAR COMMENTARIES
Jay Allen commented on my hostility toward the incorrect usage of the term “literally,” when people mean “figuratively.” He says the worst thing is when people start a sentence with “honestly” or “let me be honest with you,” which suggests they were dishonest up to that point.
Mark Farrell had this to say following my Musing about the Oregon Trail:
“You wrote, "Sierras," which is a pet peeve of mine. It won't end our friendship, but you must promise to never do it again. LOL! It's common to say, ‘The Sierras.’ …It has become somewhat normalized and accepted. But did you know that it's really ‘The Sierra’ or ‘The Sierra Nevada"’— singular?
That's because, unlike the Rockies, it's a single mountain range. Actually, the longest single mountain range in the contiguous U.S. There's only ONE Sierra. Because the term is already plural. In Spanish, it means ‘a range of mountains.’ To add an ‘s’ would mean you were saying ‘a range of mountainses.’
Then he quotes Ansel Adams:
"The name Sierra is already a plural. To add an s is a linguistic, Californian, and mountaineering sin."
Further reading: http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2459025/Sierra-vs-Sierras-once-and-for-all-According-to-Brower
Mark noted that next time, he’s going to comment on “Ukraine” versus “the Ukraine…” I don’t even want to imagine how fired-up Mark gets when people refer to “The LaBrea Tar Pits.”
NUMBER SONGS
Albert Praw (known, by the way, for singing on the golf course) was surprised that Musing Beyond the Bunker #409 didn’t acknowledge the Beach Boys’ “My 409.” That reminded me of an earlier exercise regarding songs with numbers in them. Here are a few:
ONE SONGS
One is the Loneliest Number, Three Dog Night
Another One Bites the Dust, Queen
One Way or Another, Blondie
You’re Still the One, Orleans
One Toke Over the Line, Brewer & Shipley
One More Night, Phil Collins (and Maroon 5?)
One (is the Loneliest Number), Harry Nilsson
TWO SONGS
Tea for Two, Tommy Dorsey
Just the Two of Us, Grover Washington, Jr.
Two Tickets to Paradise, Eddie Money
It Takes Two, Marvin Gaye
THREE SONGS
Three Little Birds, Bob Marley
Three Times a Lady, The Commodores
Knock Three Times, Tony Orlando
FOUR SONGS
25 or 6 to 4, Chicago
FIVE SONGS
Mambo Number Five, Lou Bega
Take Five, Dave Brubeck
9 to 5, Dolly Parton
OTHER SONGS UNDER 20
Eight Days a Week, The Beatles
Love Potion Number Nine, the Clovers
Sixteen Candles, The Crests
You’re Sixteen, Ringo Starr
Sixteen Tons, Tennessee Ernie Ford
At Seventeen, Janis Ian
Edge of Seventeen, Stevie Nicks
LARGER NUMBERS
24 Hours From Tulsa, Gene Pitney
A Pirate Looks at 40, Jimmy Buffett
Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover, Paul Simon
When I’m 64, The Beatles
99 Red Balloons, Nena
A Thousand Years, Christina Perri
In the Year 2525, Zager & Evans
December ’63 (Oh, What a Night!), Four Seasons
Jenny (867-5309), Tommy Tutone
THE JUDGMENT OF HISTORY
From Mark DiMaria:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/6/6/2101861/-Cartoon-History-will-judge
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives:
With regard to your "Why Can't we Just Get Along" I would suggest directing your readers to NoLabels.org, an organization dedicated to creating a safe space in Congress for Democrats and Republicans to sit down together and find common ground. Whether one deems their mission a pipe dream or not, it is the only organization of its kind making a difference in this regard...see the Problem Solvers Caucus in the House. To overcome our continual march towards greater polarization, one needs to carve out a better way, not just become the mirror image of what you detest. Then again, I could be wrong....