Expressions

Another Day, Another ______!


Fill in the blank.

I like:
Another Day another Happy Event!

How about, Another day, another miracle!

What would you say?

Master

Change is Good. I think I have reached the acceptance stage for the change in my employment status. It is a great time to be free and unencumbered! There was a mandatory training event, at my former job, last Friday and I happened to be the co-chair of the event. So, I got to be the MC, which stands for Master of Ceremonies. (A sexist term, but we will not discuss alternatives, yet.) The event went very well. I base this on the evidence that very few people left after lunch, which has happened in the past. Even I enjoyed it. And the president of the company complimented my on my creativity. So I'm pleased. A Happy Ending.

Master of Ceremonies is a term indicating a male. Of course, we can say just MC. Just like we can say MA or MS instead of Master's degree. See earlier post, much earlier, for a discussion of alternatives for degree titles. The only non-sexist degree is the doctorate. I guess I will have to get one so I can be Dr. Constantas and not use Mrs. or Ms. Although Ms. was conceived to be a privacy-protecting title for a woman, my high school students informed me it usually indicates a divorced woman.

Back to MC, Mistress of Ceremonies will not do, so what could be an alternative?

Technophobe

Technophobe. I'm sure this is a word, even though it is not in my unabridged dictionary. It is just a new word, a neologism.



I sometimes feel like a technophobe, as I have difficulty keeping up. It was only 2 weeks ago, when I sent my first text message. I have a new cell phone and it is still annoying to me. I have not figured out how to change my greeting, so I can't update the info about the next chapter meeting.



I also want to have a really amazing website, but haven't had time to read the manual for that software, either.



I'll get it together ... someday!



Technophobia is not my problem. I was a computer programmer for 10 years in the 80s and 90s. There were no PCs when I learned to write programs. I remember the first TI calculators when they were $500.00! OMG I am getting old!



I hesitate to write that. I need an updated, hip euphemism for "old." Remember the slogan, you're not getting older, you're getting better! I like it, but I don't know what it was for. I think hair color, perhaps.



I do have a great affirmation for memory: I have total recall. Is that right? Oh darn! I seem to have forgotten! Just kidding.

I will share lots of great affirmations at my workshop, the Hypnotic Fountain of Youth on July 9 at Serenity Now Books and Gifts (Palm Harbor).

Superstitious?

Friday the Thirteenth
Have a superlative day!

Even though it is Friday the Thirteenth. Are you superstitious? Most will answer, no, of course not, knock on wood! But there are those among us who are triscadecaphobic! From the Greek, naturally, the word derives from several Greek words, trisca signifies 3, deca, ten, and phobia, fear. I am sure I saw this word in a Charlie Brown cartoon, years ago, but my spell check doesn’t like it, nor is it in my dictionary. But there must be a word for fear of Friday the Thirteenth. It doesn’t come up often, but when it does, it is surely handy to have the right word for it.

I am sure I have seen this word before. But it is not in my Unabridged Dictionary. Well, it just goes to prove how reliable the human memory is. If anyone else has seen it, please let me know, so I won’t chalk it up to old-timers disease. Thanks!

Bless you

Bless is an odd-sounding word. It comes to us from Old English.

When I was a kid, "blessed" was 2 syllables if an adjective, but one if a verb. The dictionary says either pronunciation is acceptable. It means holy; revered; bringing or enjoying happiness.

Disgraceful!

Disgrace. What does it mean? We need to understand grace first. Grace is ... ineffable. I know what it means, but I can't explain. This is a quote from a song by The Who. I always disagreed with that sentence. If you really know what it means, you would be able to define it. But grace has many meanings and even carries with it a biblical or religious significance. So I hesitate to try on my own. I will take a risk and posit that it is from Latin.

Disgrace - n. loss of honor or respect; regarded with disapproval or disfavor. From Latin.

Grace - n. effortless charm; well-coordinated; appropriate;Divine love and protection. From Latin.

Ineffable - adj. beyond description in mere words. From Latin.

I guess really wasn't ineffable.

Burning Bush

I saw a burning bush just the other day. I was driving down a steet with lovely flowers on the median. I saw smoke and drove by cautiously. One flowering bush was lit up, but not in flames, yet. I called 911 and said there's a fire in the middle of the street. A few moments later it hit me. That was weird,

a burning bush!

A burning bush? What does that signify? When I told my son, he said maybe it's a sign of the apocalypse. A- po- ca- lips. What an interesting word. I know it must come from Greek (see the y as a vowel in the last syllable?). Now that I write it, I see that this word is related to calypso. Apocalypse means a prophetic disclosure or revelation. It comes from apokalupsis, a- po- ka- loop- sees, revelation. It is also the name of the last book of the Bible. Calypso means a type of music from Trinidad, but guess what, it is also the name of a character in Greek mythology. She is mentioned in the Odyssey.

So what does the burning bush signify? Big changes. There is a meeting this afternoon where I will find out the future of the program I have been working on for almost 4 years. Maybe next time I will discuss the term, "laid off."

I have another blog, musinglog.blogspot.com, which rarely gets comments. And this article is the one on this blog that gets lots of comments. I think they are all computer generated, though. I don't know why this blog draws them. I published this 2 years ago, and it is the one that still gets the most comments. Since this one gets the most attention, I want to point out my other blogs, hoping someone will notice ithem. They are both on the upper right of this page. Thank you for reading them!

You are invited to a meeting of the TBNGH at Books a Million in Palm Harbor on April 30, 2011. We are going to demonstrate Phone Hypnosis at 7 pm. The public is invited to watch and learn about the marriage of hypnosis and new technology!

Read about it on VerbalImpact.blogspot.com. There should be a link next to this one.