Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)’s Comments (group member since Sep 20, 2013)

Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)’s comments from the Net Work Book Club group.

If you're Hungary, there's always Turkey, though that has a lot of Greece...

(and if my Greek friends heard me say that, they'd kill me. Among my college friends, "Turk" was a serious insult, as in "take it outside before someone gets killed.")

And I wish to goodness English had some neutral pronouns!! Other languages have them, why not English? "He or she, his or her" is too long. "S/he" looks pedantic, and we don't have a neutral possessive, bar misusing "their." Ugh.

mrbooks wrote: "Very good definition and usage of the word, you are very good Ori."

Words are my job. People don't use "pithy" much anymore. Don't get me started on the "involution" of the English language or we'll be here all day.

I remember reading in Oliver Sacks' book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales that one of his patients with a severe neurological problem said that he (or she, I don't remember) felt that s/he had been "pithed"--hollowed out, nothing left. Like when you cut down a branch to make a wooden flute and scrape out the heartwood to hollow it. Only time I've ever seen it as a verb, but it does describe the feeling well. I suffered from severe dissociation for several years, and that is the word I'd have used if I'd know it was available.

"The definition of pithy is language or words that are brief, but meaningful and forceful. An example of something that might be described as pithy is short, meaningful comments." In plants, "pith" is the live heartwood or stem, so a pithy statement is full of meaning and "goodness", nothing unnecessary tacked on.

It is used to describe how people speak, not what they say. So "The boss made some very pithy remarks about Casual Fridays and their negative impact on incoming clients."

"Pithy" is often used to describe old sayings or proverbs.

My mother used to cringe at "pithy", too, Jamie! She said the speaker might as well man up and put the SS back in it. (Not that she ever heard the phrase "man up," but you know what I mean.)

I see what you mean...likeable doesn't mean Perfect Mary Sue. I've bailed on a couple of those this year because perfect people aren't real...and the folks we know who pretend they're perfect are usually pretty nasty underneath. Now, if the author writes a character like that, and makes revealing their unpleasantness interesting, that's a good read!

Oh indeed He did! At every turn. The man is a walking miracle. When they got the good news his wife came unglued and just cried and cried. The specialist just handed her a tissue and said, "Go on, it'll do you good." When they were going to leave, Vicente told Charo, "Dry your tears or everyone will think it was bad news!" because by this time everyone in the section knows them by sight.

You're barkin' up the wrong tree, there, Groovy.

Excellent news--my pastor had his PET scan results and they are excellent! There's only one tiny nodule left and it is so small, the specialist thinks it's probably just dead cells...just to be sure, he's sending Vicente to the radiologist for a second opinion. He's gained weight and strength and is raring to go.

Obviously Mr B has had the piece of cod that passes all understanding at some point...

HRHDogMatix wrote: "With the emphasis on "Battered"?"

Oh yes, salt and batter-y!

HRHDogMatix wrote: "Who is the boss of all the gangster fish?

The Cod Father"

And if you don't watch it...you'll be sleepin' wit da humans!

(On a plate. Battered. With salad.)

Oh you made me laugh! When my sister was in highschool she went fish-mad and she was quite successful at breeding angel fish. She had 3 big acquariums (acquaria?), one was at floor level. But then she acquired a Doberman pup who as he grew figured any large container of water on the floor was his to drink. How many times did I hear her wail, "Moooom! That damned dog has been drinking my fish again!"

Took her a month or so to get a cover on the tank!

I started a new chat thread...check it out!

Gave myself a new hairdryer for Christmas...this one has a big picture-warning on the flex telling us we mustn't use the dryer while we're under the shower!!
??

Is it just me? Who would dry their hair while they're having a shower?

I'm quite sure I posted a couple of new things in the month of December. Nothing earth-shattering but still.

Since it's a new year, we need a new thread! Here's the place to stop in and say Hi, make yourself known, or just natter on about whatever doesn't fit on another thread! Frenchie doesn't seem to be around anymore, so here we are again!

We need a new thread for the new year. As Frenchie seems to have deserted us for good and all, who wants to be mother?

Groovy, you rat! What a cheesy joke!
(But keep em coming!)

We seem to have lost a page of this thread.