The Difference Between Men and Women: It’s Probably Moot

DFW Writers’ Workshop 2013 Hijacked!

The Difference Between Men and Women: It’s Probably Moot

Today, it’s my pleasure to host JT Therrien as part of a blog swap. To see my post today, click here.

JT is a Canadian fiction writer working in a variety of genres. His latest release, Sprainter, is an inspirational, young adult, art-themed, dystopian, romance novella for Astraea Press. It crosses five literary genres. Take it away, JT.

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I’ve been married to a saint of a woman for 27 years, 28 in two weeks! I’m serious when I describe my wife as a saint: she is a member of the Legion of Mary (the largest lay organization of the Catholic Church) and as such, she visits the home-bound, the sick, and the dying to offer comfort and to pray. She does this several times a week along with a slew of other charitable works. Let this be a thumbnail sketch of her character.

So, over our, let’s call it 28 year marriage, we have had some disagreements. Nothing ever too serious. My wife doesn’t yell. She never has. She doesn’t throw things in anger (or in any other mood), she doesn’t storm off in a huff, or drive away in a cloud of dust. That… um… would be me. I’m the more emotional one of the couple. But enough about me…

There is also one other major, important difference between us, and although I have lots of time to think about things, I feel that I may be starting to obsess about this one, teeny, tiny, issue. You see, she cares not a whit that there are, approximately, ten to twelve released songs that use the word “moot” in their lyrics.

Moot?

Yep. The only song I’ve ever heard that uses this word is the one performed by world-famous Rick Springfield, aka Dr. Noah Drake of General Hospital fame. If you don’t know the reference, ask your mother (or grandmother).

For those of you interested in the Jessie’s Girl video you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYkbTyHXwbs

Anyway, I’m a child of the eighties, so I’ve been listening to Jessie’s Girl for 32 years. And every time I hear it, I wonder about that odd word: “moot.” To the point where a couple of years ago I Googled it. I would’ve bet the farm that it would appear only in Rick Springfield’s song. I mentioned my unbelievable discovery of ten other songs to my wife and… gosh… this is so difficult to admit… Well, it was almost as if she didn’t care!

In fact, her words were something to the effect of: “So what? Why are you even wasting time thinking about this?”

“So what?” I was amazed there existed even ONE song with the word “moot” in the lyrics, imagine my shock to discover there were at least ten others! And all she has to say is “so what?”

Unbelievably, she really wasn’t kidding! This issue did not concern my wife in the least. And at last we’ve arrived at the problem. “Moot” is an odd word that doesn’t really rhyme with many other words besides “boot”, “hoot”, “Old Coot” – definitely not pop or love song material. In fact, Rick Springfield rhymes “moot” with “cute,” a stretch that would send most self-respecting poets into serious conniption fits. I realize there are other lyrics that sound just as odd, but this is the one that really bugs me.

But it’s also my wife’s lack of interest in the matter that, in part, keeps me awake at night. We’ve been through so much together: Twin Peaks, odd Survivor twists, and real-life issues that were just as bizarre. And we’ve always agreed on everything. So why not this lyric issue?

I blame hormones, or genes, or some biological issue. There, I’ve said it: I think it’s a male thing! Or female. Am I right? I’d love for readers to leave a comment so that I can get to the bottom of this disturbing issue once and for all. Then I can move on with my life (or seek professional help). Whichever.

Anyway, thank you for reading along. I wish to thank David for his generous offer of his blog today. For those of you looking for his regular post, which, I assure you, has nothing to do with the word “moot,” you’ll find it on my blog here.

You can find me everywhere on the interwebs, but I mostly hang out on Twitter, where I retweet my friends’ tweets. I’m also on Facebook, and on my blog:

https://twitter.com/jttherrien

http://www.facebook.com/JTTherrienAuthor1

http://jttherrien.blogspot.ca