I'm not sure what came first, but I love reading and enjoy choosing the right word. Bad mixes of words sometimes are referred to as word salad. Hope to avoid that affliction today.
I have always enjoyed words. There are some words I never want to use and then some words that are simply a melody to read and say. When I was fresh out of high school, I met a friend and her mom and my new friend's best friend and we'd get together at the mother's house and play PROBE, a Parker Bros. game that surfaced in 1964. I had no idea why I loved playing the game, but I did. It would only be years later when I'd realize that my love for that game was because of the love of words I was acquiring. Any word games I find enjoyable. Writing the screenplay, there were times when I needed the character to say the right word to deliver the emotional punch I was looking for. Most people could care less about words, which is fine, but when I really work at writing carefully, it becomes a game for me to find the right word for the right situation.
Thanks Chuck! I feel the same way and love the way you put it. I get a kick out the report I get each month from Grammarly. I keep making the same mistrakes but the vocabulary part always makes me smile. I also hope you eventually find those pickles...
Love pizza anytime anywhere 😊 Don't believe in over eating no matter size or animal. If we all listened to our internal clocks/cues we'd eat less and only when truly hungry. Man that sandwich, I would need a knife and fork to handle that.
I don't eat much pizza anymore and definitely miss it. Carbs/flour & diabetes don't mix :( -- once in a while, I'll eat it but very limited. It is probably my favorite thing I don't eat much anymore. I have a sign these days on my fridge that says "nothing tastes as good as feeling great"! What's your goto pizza? For me it is Neapolitan style with spicy sausage and anchovies! I can get it at a local place that cooks individuals in a 900F oven in about two minutess. Only way to scratch the itch nowadays. Everybody's got their favorite and sure there's is the best. It's how us humans act. Here is my vote for best pizza in flyover country. https://punchpizza.com/menus/
As for Katz's Deli. When in NYC ya gotta do it I think...
Pizza yeah, my first and still fav pepperoni. I like pesto, and a good vegetarian. Pizza baked in a stone oven or wood burning,yum! Thin crust over thick unless homemade. Gotta do Italy and try their's 😊
Sounds good. Based on experience, the link is quite close to "real Italian" -- had a long-term renter from Northern Italy -- he concurred it was the only place in the Twin Cities that was serving "real Italian"
I chose “eat last slice to avoid cleanup” bc it made me laugh. Two really is the ideal but I will typically eat 2.5 and then feel sorry.
I wonder if humans are actually the middle ground when it comes to sizes of life forms on this planet. We may be one hundredth the size of an elephant but on the other end I’d bet we are 10,000 times the size of an ant. I’d guess we are more like 80th percentile. There must be a handy chart of this somewhere...
More wizardry from Brooklyn...there is that old Polish joke (my Mom was Polish) -- do you want me to cut your pizza into 8 or 12 slices? Better go 8, there's no way I can eat 12 slices of pizza! I'm glad you and others went for "the last slice" -- with only five choices and one reserved for "Something Else" it is long overdue for Substack to allow more options in their pseudo-serious polls.
You may have revealed the fallacy of my premise. Earth is mostly plants and insects -- I'm so embarrassed -- FWIW all of the insects are successors of ABSURDLY LARGE INSECTS when there was a lot more oxygen in the atmosphere just like all the movies like to show it -- insects don't have lungs so they need there to be lots of oxygen to get real big -- I've seen estimates that beetles were 150 pounds way back when...that sounds real bad as they would squash your Mayor's rats without a second thought
I bet if you ask this question of ChatGPT a beautiful chart will result -- the best part will be no one will know if it is true or just made up :) -- I love the early consensus that AI is a lot like humans -- they lie A LOT and just make stuff up! The AI propensity to lie and exaggerate will make it perfect for politicians to use.
The comments are where the fun lies. Between you and Anne, I am learning something I MAY have heard before but conveniently ignored and hence never learned!!! I think that is great. Wow lots of bacteria!!! The best part of all this is facing some stubbornness n inflexibility. This is now something I learned from the two of you. Thanks.
Since stubbornness is built-in I think I wonder if my mind will just kinda make a newish definition of middle so I can still feel right??!
I'm a big believer in moderation, a middle way on balance. Though I enjoy forays to occasional extremes, and innovation can come from outlier modes of thinking, too much time at the extremes loses both perspective and enjoyment. Nothing is ever "always" or "never" ;-)
Thanks for reading and posting! Just like shambolic tickled my fancy, this sounds great. While I have never done a full post about it, eating the hottest peppers is sort of the same as saying you can eat a five pound burger. Why? When I see people wearing safety glasses as they roast and prepare peppers its just so silly to see it. I think your reference to occasional forays is very well put. I imagine there are brief periods where that makes sense but it must take its toll on people. I think your always or never take is spot on!
Fun column, thank you! I own a Bubba keg - my son gave it to me - but only used it a couple times because the dang thing doesn't fit in my car's cup holder and it seems to be impossible to drink from it without dribbling... very unattractive! 😂 My son eventually stopped using his for the same reason.
Your friend could buy some cucumbers and make his own sweet pickles - if canning is too intimidating, there are lots of recipes online for refrigerator pickles.
Thanks for reading Jeannine -- aren't novel words fun!!! You managed to disprove my thesis (Bubba Keg) -- that is what the comments are for. Your housekeeping reference means when I finally get around to it I will refer to my afternoon gambit in the backseat of my car as the Shambolic Car Detailer
As I recall it seemed so large you might be able to use it as vase or a container for Boston Brown Bread. I remember seeing the guy carrying it at times and it was just ridiculous. I think it was funny when you pointed out it wouldn't fit in a cupholder. That's great.
I really admire your intellectual curiosity, Mark!
I'm surprised "dogma" isn't an older word. But, then, again, I suppose it makes sense that as society became more secular in the 19th century, "dogma" would become more useful.
Undoubtedly the nicest comment ever -- thank you Jillian -- I think you are probaby right about dogma -- things were just fine until the printing press -- One of my favorite jokes/expressions is the powerful like to treat people like mushrooms -- keep em in the dark and bury them in s$%#. You get to explore older writing when it was rare and not that accessible. Another example of how awesome it is to be around today unless you have a vested interest in some old ideas I imagine. Thank you for reading -- I always appreciate your comments. This was one f those columns I intended to be open ended without much of an opinon and see what it brings out in the reader.
Interesting and fun! These days I find myself thinking about the word “Compliance”. It seems to have affected the medical device industry in a curious way! To an extent that we seem to have forgotten the basic principles of Quality!
Thanks for reading and commenting! Sometimes I just write about "something else". I end up enjoying where the topic takes people. Compliance can pull people's focus away and it is easy to say I'm doing X because our overseer says so in documents A, B, and C. Quality is more of a journey and begins with a mission and a commitment. The best quality organizations I ever experienced, applied it as their guiding principal and believed, almost by faith that commitment to quality will keep you on the right path. You seem to understand the Medical Device marketplace very well. I am sure, like many vertical industries that get large, a pile of built-in compliance operates for the largest players as a barrier to entry and innovation. I look forward to reading even more of your writing.
I have always enjoyed words. There are some words I never want to use and then some words that are simply a melody to read and say. When I was fresh out of high school, I met a friend and her mom and my new friend's best friend and we'd get together at the mother's house and play PROBE, a Parker Bros. game that surfaced in 1964. I had no idea why I loved playing the game, but I did. It would only be years later when I'd realize that my love for that game was because of the love of words I was acquiring. Any word games I find enjoyable. Writing the screenplay, there were times when I needed the character to say the right word to deliver the emotional punch I was looking for. Most people could care less about words, which is fine, but when I really work at writing carefully, it becomes a game for me to find the right word for the right situation.
Thanks Chuck! I feel the same way and love the way you put it. I get a kick out the report I get each month from Grammarly. I keep making the same mistrakes but the vocabulary part always makes me smile. I also hope you eventually find those pickles...
Love pizza anytime anywhere 😊 Don't believe in over eating no matter size or animal. If we all listened to our internal clocks/cues we'd eat less and only when truly hungry. Man that sandwich, I would need a knife and fork to handle that.
I don't eat much pizza anymore and definitely miss it. Carbs/flour & diabetes don't mix :( -- once in a while, I'll eat it but very limited. It is probably my favorite thing I don't eat much anymore. I have a sign these days on my fridge that says "nothing tastes as good as feeling great"! What's your goto pizza? For me it is Neapolitan style with spicy sausage and anchovies! I can get it at a local place that cooks individuals in a 900F oven in about two minutess. Only way to scratch the itch nowadays. Everybody's got their favorite and sure there's is the best. It's how us humans act. Here is my vote for best pizza in flyover country. https://punchpizza.com/menus/
As for Katz's Deli. When in NYC ya gotta do it I think...
Pizza yeah, my first and still fav pepperoni. I like pesto, and a good vegetarian. Pizza baked in a stone oven or wood burning,yum! Thin crust over thick unless homemade. Gotta do Italy and try their's 😊
Sounds good. Based on experience, the link is quite close to "real Italian" -- had a long-term renter from Northern Italy -- he concurred it was the only place in the Twin Cities that was serving "real Italian"
I chose “eat last slice to avoid cleanup” bc it made me laugh. Two really is the ideal but I will typically eat 2.5 and then feel sorry.
I wonder if humans are actually the middle ground when it comes to sizes of life forms on this planet. We may be one hundredth the size of an elephant but on the other end I’d bet we are 10,000 times the size of an ant. I’d guess we are more like 80th percentile. There must be a handy chart of this somewhere...
More wizardry from Brooklyn...there is that old Polish joke (my Mom was Polish) -- do you want me to cut your pizza into 8 or 12 slices? Better go 8, there's no way I can eat 12 slices of pizza! I'm glad you and others went for "the last slice" -- with only five choices and one reserved for "Something Else" it is long overdue for Substack to allow more options in their pseudo-serious polls.
You may have revealed the fallacy of my premise. Earth is mostly plants and insects -- I'm so embarrassed -- FWIW all of the insects are successors of ABSURDLY LARGE INSECTS when there was a lot more oxygen in the atmosphere just like all the movies like to show it -- insects don't have lungs so they need there to be lots of oxygen to get real big -- I've seen estimates that beetles were 150 pounds way back when...that sounds real bad as they would squash your Mayor's rats without a second thought
I bet if you ask this question of ChatGPT a beautiful chart will result -- the best part will be no one will know if it is true or just made up :) -- I love the early consensus that AI is a lot like humans -- they lie A LOT and just make stuff up! The AI propensity to lie and exaggerate will make it perfect for politicians to use.
There are lots and lots and LOTS of bacteria out there, too (and inside us, as well!).
The comments are where the fun lies. Between you and Anne, I am learning something I MAY have heard before but conveniently ignored and hence never learned!!! I think that is great. Wow lots of bacteria!!! The best part of all this is facing some stubbornness n inflexibility. This is now something I learned from the two of you. Thanks.
Since stubbornness is built-in I think I wonder if my mind will just kinda make a newish definition of middle so I can still feel right??!
I'm a big believer in moderation, a middle way on balance. Though I enjoy forays to occasional extremes, and innovation can come from outlier modes of thinking, too much time at the extremes loses both perspective and enjoyment. Nothing is ever "always" or "never" ;-)
Thanks for reading and posting! Just like shambolic tickled my fancy, this sounds great. While I have never done a full post about it, eating the hottest peppers is sort of the same as saying you can eat a five pound burger. Why? When I see people wearing safety glasses as they roast and prepare peppers its just so silly to see it. I think your reference to occasional forays is very well put. I imagine there are brief periods where that makes sense but it must take its toll on people. I think your always or never take is spot on!
Fun column, thank you! I own a Bubba keg - my son gave it to me - but only used it a couple times because the dang thing doesn't fit in my car's cup holder and it seems to be impossible to drink from it without dribbling... very unattractive! 😂 My son eventually stopped using his for the same reason.
Your friend could buy some cucumbers and make his own sweet pickles - if canning is too intimidating, there are lots of recipes online for refrigerator pickles.
Off to chores. I am a shambolic housekeeper...
Thanks for reading Jeannine -- aren't novel words fun!!! You managed to disprove my thesis (Bubba Keg) -- that is what the comments are for. Your housekeeping reference means when I finally get around to it I will refer to my afternoon gambit in the backseat of my car as the Shambolic Car Detailer
Though the fact that the Bubba keg ended up somewhere in the back of a cupboard might count towards proving your theory....
As I recall it seemed so large you might be able to use it as vase or a container for Boston Brown Bread. I remember seeing the guy carrying it at times and it was just ridiculous. I think it was funny when you pointed out it wouldn't fit in a cupholder. That's great.
I really admire your intellectual curiosity, Mark!
I'm surprised "dogma" isn't an older word. But, then, again, I suppose it makes sense that as society became more secular in the 19th century, "dogma" would become more useful.
Undoubtedly the nicest comment ever -- thank you Jillian -- I think you are probaby right about dogma -- things were just fine until the printing press -- One of my favorite jokes/expressions is the powerful like to treat people like mushrooms -- keep em in the dark and bury them in s$%#. You get to explore older writing when it was rare and not that accessible. Another example of how awesome it is to be around today unless you have a vested interest in some old ideas I imagine. Thank you for reading -- I always appreciate your comments. This was one f those columns I intended to be open ended without much of an opinon and see what it brings out in the reader.
I’d never heard that mushroom analogy! It’s fantastic!
Interesting and fun! These days I find myself thinking about the word “Compliance”. It seems to have affected the medical device industry in a curious way! To an extent that we seem to have forgotten the basic principles of Quality!
Thanks for reading and commenting! Sometimes I just write about "something else". I end up enjoying where the topic takes people. Compliance can pull people's focus away and it is easy to say I'm doing X because our overseer says so in documents A, B, and C. Quality is more of a journey and begins with a mission and a commitment. The best quality organizations I ever experienced, applied it as their guiding principal and believed, almost by faith that commitment to quality will keep you on the right path. You seem to understand the Medical Device marketplace very well. I am sure, like many vertical industries that get large, a pile of built-in compliance operates for the largest players as a barrier to entry and innovation. I look forward to reading even more of your writing.