KITSCHY

A friend recently commented that something she'd given me might seem "tacky". I told her that I am chided regularly in my family for overusing the word tacky! To let me know that I had used the word tacky once too often, my late, beloved, sister-in-law would imitate my pronunciation, and her version would come out with the "a" elongated, as: "T-A-A-ACKY". Once, another family member suggested we should get some white, wicker furniture for the back yard and I said it would be tacky. A chorus of "T-A-A-A-A-CKY", from all assembled, greeted that. I now use "kitschy" instead of "tacky".

A snooty acquaintance once lectured to me, "One must be careful not to be considered too kitschy in decorating!" [I dislike such supercilious, passive-aggressive behavior; instead of saying ONE, I would hope that ONE would have the temerity to say YOU rather than ONE!] I answered, "If by saying ONE, you mean that I am KITSCHY, I readily admit that I am, and I do NOT have to be careful, but I think I'm more NAFF than kitschy!" [Did I mention that I like to use words like "naff" with pretentious people because I think they won't know the word? Speaking of passive-aggressive behavior? Hmmm? Time for some introspection, Sue?]

The snooty one thinks that "themes" in rooms and borders on wallpaper are kitschy. The downstairs bathroom in our house gives me the double--whammy: a seashell theme WITH a seashell wallpaper border. [After going to Florida for twenty years in a row, what the Hell are you supposed to do with all those seashells?] I especially like the seashell border in the bathroom, the "Irish Beauty" sign in the laundry room, and various geegaws around the house. They are all kitschy!

When we moved here, one of my brothers asked if I were going to put a "CEMENT POND" in the back yard. I'm embarrassed to admit that I grasped that Beverly Hillbillies reference. Hey, you can take the girl out of the country, but.........!