What's In A Name (2)

Last week I told you a little story about Convivial, a little girl who made a lot of friends. What I didn't tell you was that she had a little brother named Dack. He had a last name that he didn't like to use: Dick. Dack Dick didn't make many friends. In fact the little boys and girls sniggered at him and his name. That's an interesting word: sniggered. There are many synonyms but I think my favourite is belittle. It really conveys a sense of ridicule which is what the little boys and girls were doing. They were ridiculing poor Dack.

Now Dack wasn't the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer. Another reason the boys and girls would ridicule him. At school he was an average student, pulling down Bs and the odd C. He was content. His parents were content and his sister Convivial was content.

One day in English class the teacher hosted a little game of "What's That Mean?". She'd mention a word and the class would have to guess another word that meant the same thing.Like snigger and belittle. Okay, okay, Dack bad example.

The teacher said '"happy". In the front row Tommy's hand shot up and he said "cheerful". The teacher said "expectant" and again little Tommy's hand shot up and he yelled "breathless", breathlessly. "Okay,Tommy", admonished the teacher. "I think it's time to call on someone else." The teacher said "educational". And again, in spite of the admonishment, little Tommy shot up his hand and yelled "didactic" to which little Dack in the back of the class yelled "You die Tommy, you little fucker." The teacher immediately assigned Dack Dick a detention. Why? She told Dack while he may have expressed the right sentiment he still got the answer wrong.

The Two Word Tuesday prompt was didactic/educational this week. And wasn't it?

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born. That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network. And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door. And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran. The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993. I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share. The formula was pretty simple. A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains. The show opened as follows... Imagination Day! Oh boy! You know what happens on Imagination D

My Back Pages - November

I know, I know, I know I should have reported in before now. But sometimes real life just gets in the way. I attempted 5 books in November. I say attempted because I slapped a big DNF (did not finish) on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I just can't seem to get into this guy. It's the second or third of his I've given up on, Not so the other four, starting with a biography of Stephen Stills called Change Partners. This followed by a hilarious biography of the guy responsible for National Lampoon called A Stupid and Futile Gesture - How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. I ended the month reading yet another biography, this one of the man behind Rolling Stone magazine,. It was called Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine. A fascinating read. So last month I hit the magic number 50 I'd imagined for myself back in January. If I roll this month into my yearly total I'm at 54 books. And I still hav

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

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