ultracrepidarian

ultracrepidarian [uhl-truh-krep-i-dair-ee-uh n]

adjective
1. noting or pertaining to a person who criticizes, judges, or gives advice outside the area of his or her expertise

noun
2. an ultracrepidarian person.

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I saw this word in my reader feed earlier and thought it might be a good one to add to my vocabulary and especially to use in online arguments. What I really like about these esoteric words is that it shuts the other person up until they can go find out what it means.

Not but a few minutes after I read it, I went to a lottery forum I participate in and caught up on a thread I had been following about the recent Tennessee Powerball winners who gave a press conference even before they claimed their share of the jackpot. The arguments were getting heated when one guy said no one had the right to criticize them since he was sure no one giving their opinions had ever won. That led to a spate of replies with one person saying "one doesn't have to be a doctor to know they have a belly ache."

Thinking about the lottery reminded me I needed to go get a ticket for tonight's Texas Lotto.  I stopped at the dollar store on the way home and started to go down an aisle but two older men were talking and blocking my way.  I turned around and went down the next aisle and while looking for what I wanted to buy, heard one complaining he hadn't been sleeping well and the other said "The sandman hasn't been visiting you, huh?" and at that exact point the store radio speaker just above their heads started with the distinctive opening guitar rift of "Enter Sandman" by Metallica!

I love these coincidences that seem to happen to me a lot;  I'll be listening to online radio and reading something in another tab and the radio hosts will say a word I'm reading at the same time or reference a news story I'm scanning.  Freaky!  ("coincidence" is even a post label in this blog)

And speaking of freaky:  after those earlier two coincidences, I got on Facebook to see what's been happening since I last visited and noticed a FB friend had posted a video of the Top Ten Eagles songs.  #1 was "Hotel California" and I had to make a comment about it being one of the most overplayed songs ever...and after I hit "Enter" on the post, another friend's post showed up right below that one - check it out:

(click image for larger view)

Left or Right?

No, not talking about your political views, but telling one from the other.

Just last night I was lying down to watch some programs on my tablet;  I plugged in my earphone "buds" into it, then pulled one side close to my eye so I could see if the tiny letter said "L" or "R".  The first one said "R" and I stuck it in my ear...

My LEFT ear.  I realized my mistake when I put the "L" one into my right ear.  They're molded a little differently to better fit the slant of the ear canal and don't fit correctly if reversed.  Annoyed, I switched them and turned on the tablet. I caught up on some programs, then fell asleep with the buds in my ears.  At least I didn't roll over on my tablet like I've done in the past.

I get up this morning, make some coffee and rub the inside of my ear where the bud had irritated it because I slept on that side, sat down at the computer and tore off yesterday's entry on my trivia calendar and found this for today:

"One out of 4 adults can't tell their left from their right."

Hmmm....I usually don't have any trouble, but will admit to a few cases where I've had to think about it...last night's mix up wasn't typical, though.   A quick search on the Internet showed that bit of trivia to be true.

There's even a test: Right - Left Confusion?

This probably explains why *some* people have trouble learning to march in the military. Not this bunch, though.