YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL OUT OF THE COUNTY.....

I often say that I've spent my life trying NOT to sound as if I come from Fayette County but I'll paraphrase the old saw that "you can take the girl out of the county.......".

Today in a discussion about vegetable soup I used the used the word "wangy" to describe the way that vegetable soup tastes on the second day if one uses cabbage in it.  Nobody at the lunch group had ever heard the word.  In a little survey I conducted later, I found that nobody I quizzed outside my family had ever heard the word.

My brothers and I all know what that word means to us, but it's probably just another "Gladys Word" which we inherited from our mother.  In our usage, although "wangy" rhymes with tangy, it means that the taste is "off" or "tainted", and not pleasant.

I checked on the internet and there's no dictionary which gives a definition for WANGY except for my beloved URBAN DICTIONARY:

WANGY:  "An onomatopoeic word to describe a rubberized stretchy quality;  of food, having lost its consistency, but possibly still edible."  EXAMPLES:

1.  "Don't heat the pasta in the microwave; it will go all wangy."
2.  "Don't eat the sandwich;  it's wangy, the edges are curling up."
3.  "The toast is a bit wangy;  it's been made a couple of hours."

Although these examples deal with foods, the definition is different than ours.

ARS GRATIA ARTIS

Recently, on  Jeopardy! the Final Jeopardy category was "mottos" and the answer was that Louis B. Mayer and Oscar Wilde had the same four-word motto.

I screamed, in delight, "ARS GRATIA ARTIS!" because I was certain that was the answer after having seen the phrase emblazoned above the roaring lion since I could remember.

Les, who is the self-appointed scorekeeper, "gonged" me and said, "WRONG--it asked for a FOUR-WORD motto."

I whined, "But I KNOW that it means ART FOR ART'S SAKE!"

He replied, "Too bad, smarty-pants show-off, it asked for FOUR-words and that has THREE words, so you lose!"

None of the contestants had the correct response.

Les, triumphant in declaring my answer as incorrect, said, "SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI."  I said, "Wow!  I'm impressed."    He laughed and said, "That's the only Latin I know;  I don't even know what it means.  Didn't they say that when Lincoln died?"

GRANDSTANDING

I went to a Round Table Discussion by our Senator Sherrod Brown about the "epidemic" of heroin use.

When I arrived, I asked to be directed to the area where the Senator would be holding the event. The person at the Information desk asked if I had been invited.  I answered, "No, the newspaper did not specify it was closed."  She answered curtly, "It's by invitation only."

 I asked to see the Deputy Director of the organization.  When the Deputy Director came, she greeted me warmly by saying, "Hi, Neighbor."  I asked, "Is it OK if I I attend?"  She said, "Of course!" and she accompanied me to the conference room.  (I wasn't a bit embarrassed to play that "neighbor card" and I smiled smugly at the woman at the Information desk.)

Among the panelists with the Deputy Director were:  a County Commissioner, the Washington C.H. City Manager, the Fayette County Sheriff and his Chief Deputy, the Director of Community Action, the Hospital Director of Business Development, the Director of The Chamber Of Commerce, two men from the Pickaway County Area Recovery Services, the Washington High School Superintendent, and the Marketing Director from a local nursing facility.

Before the meeting began, as the Senator was greeting people in the audience, one of the City Council members was in attendance with her daughter.  The daughter told the Senator that she was a "recovering heroin addict and an alcoholic".   The Senator told them that they should sit at the table with the other panelists which they promptly did and the Senator's Aide quickly produced place cards to which they applied their names.

I learned a great deal from the panelists and was glad I was able to attend.  All of the panelists--and especially the two men from Pickaway Area Recovery Services--supplied much pertinent information, but the discussion was dominated by the two NON-PANELISTS:  the City Council member and her "recovering heroin-addicted, alcoholic" daughter.

Frankly, I was embarrassed by their grandstanding, show-boating display.  I felt that the other panelists received short shrift because of the monopolization of the Council member and her daughter.  I would much rather have heard more from the panelists about what they are DOING to combat the "epidemic" rather than by the self-aggrandizement of the "recovering heroin-addicted alcoholic"!

As I was "nosing" at the notes on the Aide's notebook, I could tell which people with whom he had been impressed.  I leaned over, pointed at a couple of names, and said, "Too bad they are Republicans!"  I then pointed out the few Democrats in the room.  Of course it was NOT a political event but I was fairly amused to see the schmoozing  and photo ops with the Senator for whom they probably did NOT vote!

SHOULD THAT BE ME?

Mona Lisa called and asked, "Have you heard people say 'I' when it should be 'my' or 'mine'?" I told her I didn't think so and I asked for an example. She said she had recently heard someone say, "We had a lot of people come to Bill and I's party." I screaked in horror. She said she had also received a thank you card which read: "Thank you so much for Joe and I's gift."

Fortunately, I hadn't heard these screamers but Grammarphobia identified the same problem. In the article it suggested Googling "John and I's", which I did. The problem must be widespread!


Grammarphobia

“I” strain

Q: I hear more and more people substitute “I’s” for “my” or “mine.” For example, “My friends had a wonderful time at Jason and I’s party.” Ouch! That hurts my ears! Is this something that will fade away, or will it eventually become accepted?

A: You’re right. A lot of people are using “I’s” as a possessive of “I,” though mostly in place of “my,” not “mine.”

We got millions of hits when we Googled “John and I’s,” “Bob and I’s,” and so on. Here are a few examples:

● “You really captured the spirit of John and I’s relationship and I absolutely cannot wait to see more of the shots!”

● “Thank you for supporting Jason and I’s celebration.”

● “Bob and I’s story is short, pathetic and kind of sweet!”

● “Tomorrow is Sam and I’s 2nd wedding anniversary.”

This usage seems to be relatively new. The earliest examples we could find were from 2004. Here’s an early one from the film producer Harvey Weinstein about the Weinstein brothers’ rocky relationship with Disney.

“They get to see my books all the time, so there’s no hiding what we do. On the flip side, Bob and I’s pay is determined by accounting from Disney. I don’t get to see everything unless I ask for an audit.”

Getting back to your question, what should be used in place of “Jason and I’s party”?

Well, “Jason’s and my party” would be correct, but that’s not the most felicitous phrasing. We’d prefer something like “our party” or, if you need to mention Jason, “our party, Jason’s and mine.”

Is this “I’s” business something that will fade away? Probably, but only time will tell.

In looking into your question, we came across a paper by Karen Milligan, a linguist at Wayne State University, about the grammar of joint possession.

In “Expressing Joint Possession: Or, Why me and Mary’s paper wasn’t accepted (but Bob and I’s was),” she suggests that the natural way of expressing joint possession (she calls it “the default construction”), is “me and Sean’s.”

She says this is “syntactically the most economical choice and the one utilized by children first. It is also the one adults revert to subconsciously—when under stress or in unguarded speech.”

Ms. Milligan writes that the early usage “declines with age, leading to eventual abandonment” as the “over-extension or misappropriation of prescriptive rules results in constructions that are semantically altered and/or unpredicted by the grammar of English.”

In other words, she seems to be arguing, we got it right as toddlers and we can blame English teachers for our difficulties in expressing joint possession as adults.

RULE OF FIVE

Do people STILL do "spring cleaning"?  I can recall, as a child, my mother would take out all of the glassware from the "china cabinet" and I would wash and dry the pieces and I would hear the history of each piece.

With all the modern conveniences now available, I would think that "spring cleaning" is just a reminder of a "time gone by".  In July, 2013, I wrote a BLOG article titled NO MORE STUFF and I claimed that I was going to DE-CLUTTER.  I have always been a very organized person and followed my mother's dictum:  "a place for everything and everything in its place", but I STILL have too much STUFF!

Our friends Bob and Connie gave me the book the life-changing magic of tidying up, the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing as a Christmas present and since January, I have been diligently sorting and collecting STUFF for a planned Rummage Sale to benefit the Dog Rescue group RESCUED ANIMALS FOR THEIR FUREVER HOMES.  (OK, I know that "furever" is outrageously cute, but I rather like it!).

I recently saw Peter Walsh, the organizing maven, tell his secrets of Spring Cleaning with his RULE OF FIVE:

5. give away FIVE items
4.  toss FOUR items that are stained, broken, or are trash
3.  clean out THREE major areas of the house
2.  perform TWO chores outside the house
1.  gift ONE item to a friend.

OK, I have done ALL these items!  I gave a brand-new designer purse to my friend.  She and I were having lunch to celebrate her birthday and I was carrying the purse for the first time and I plopped the purse on the seat beside me.  She admired the purse and I told her that it reminded me of her and she could have it.  When we were leaving I told her to come to my car.  I opened the trunk, dumped the purse contents onto the trunk floor and handed the purse to her.  She insisted that she shouldn't take it and she would gladly pay me for it.

She knows me well-enough to know that I am NOT an "impulse buyer" (especially with expensive items) but when I told her that I didn't actually like the purse ("It's not ME!") she asked why I had bought it.  I told her that it reminded me of HER!

I said, "You know I am SO old-fashioned that I would need my shoes to match my purse and there's NO way I could find shoes THAT color!"

EAR-RESISTABLE

Chocolate Easter bunnies--which to choose--hollow or solid chocolate? Both have their negative points: the hollow chocolate, when broken turns into little fragments of chocolate shrapnel; the solid ones, too difficult to bite.

Each year I bite the ears from the chocolate Easter bunnies I give to my brother and husband. I was amused to learn several years ago that the character "Sally" in the comic strip Sally Forth also bites off the ears of her daughter Hilary's Easter bunny.  Hilary schemes to find the bunny before her mother chomps the ears.  Only once, on March 23, 2008, was Hilary able to get to the bunny before Sally. The annual competition since has Sally continuing to bite the ears.

This year, I was able to purchase a bunny with really large ears! His name is "Biggy Ears" and he's "EARresistable" according to the package. Should I just nibble a bit from the top or bite down to the head? Hmm? I'm looking at that chocolate rabbit now and he's beckoning "Sue---ooooooh", "Sue----ooooooh"; I don't know how long I can resist! Resist, Hell! See the "before and after" pictures!

There must be a deep psychological compulsion which makes "Sally" and me do this, but I just think it's fun!