verbicide

verbicide ver·bi·cide [vur-buh-sahyd] noun

1. the willful distortion or depreciation of the original meaning of a word.
2. a person who willfully distorts the meaning of a word.

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I thought of several instances of verbicide, but most were curse words or otherwise obscene. (I like to make the comments for these words funny, not offensive - this entry is a little more serious, though)  The only other two that came to mind were involving homosexuality; the word "gay" has changed its meaning by the gay community and "queer", once a term for "odd", then became a pejorative for gays, has now been embraced by many in the gay community.

I decided to see if I could find other examples and found this other definition of verbicide:

Facetious. misuse or overuse of a word or any use of a word which is damaging to it.

Words - at least those that AREN'T swearing -  are much easier to think of for this definition and the first one that popped into my head was racist; it's been thrown around so much for quite some time and particularly since President Obama was elected that it's lost it's meaning...and that's sad, because simply disagreeing with certain policies and actions of this administration are not racist in nature and it takes away from identifying actual racism.  That's as absurd as accusing a black person of racism just because they didn't agree with Bush's economic policies.

I've disagreed with many things from each and every President since I've been voting as well as with many president's actions before I was even born. I take great offense at being labeled a racist simply because I have different political views than the person making the accusation. (I also wonder if the person making the claim is guilty of projection)

It's one thing to call me a racist in a forum or on a message board, but it's another thing altogether to say it to my face. That would be a big, big mistake on your part.  That would make me guilty of assault and battery, not racism.

I Scoff at These Results

You Are a Scoff

You have a quirky sense of humor, and it's definitely on the darker side. You laugh at irony and life's craziness. Mainstream humor is not likely to appeal to you unless it's witty, complex, or intellectual. You won't laugh for laughing's sake. You sense of humor is your strength. Humor helps you keep everything in perspective, especially when the world seems against you. You laugh in the face of adversity and when others tell you that you can't do something. Living well is the best revenge!

What Kind of Laugh Are You?
 

Barely Passed

Elvis Presley got a 'C' in his 8th grade music class.

 

And, from reports, he was trying to pass when he died.

adret

adret a·dret [a-drey] noun
a side of a mountain receiving direct sunlight.

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I wasn't familiar with this word, but thanks to our Word of the Day module, I do now, as well as finding out the shady side is called an ubac.

The shady side, or ubac , is usually rocky, steep and densely forested, whereas the sunny slope, or adret , is gentler and much more fertile.

-- Pier Paolo Viazzo, Upland Communities: Environment, Population and Social Structure in the Alps Since the Sixteenth Century , 1989

I'd hate to have to make a choice on which side to live; if possible, I think I'd prefer to have half my property on the adret and half on the ubac. I could call it "Adretubac Acres".

On second thought, maybe not - I'd hate to have to keep explaining what the name meant. Maybe Sunny/Shady Acres?

Hot or Cold Dinks

I was just reading an article from one of my recipe sites, Spiced.  The recipe was Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream and the author was writing about his favorite ice cream flavor being vanilla, but why wasn't there a vanilla syrup for chocolate ice cream like there is chocolate syrup for vanilla?

Well, I've never used it for ice cream, but there IS such a thing as vanilla syrup and I started to reply and say so...but I didn't want to be one of those insufferable people who feel the need to point things like that out to others.

I mean, I don't want to be one of those people any longer;  I'm working on that, honest.

I've seen vanilla syrup in grocery stores, usually in the coffee aisle, right there with the powdered flavorings and creamers and the liquid form is in the milk section along with the other perishable items that need to be refrigerated.  A quick search online shows that you can make it yourself, or buy it from Walmart or Amazon.  I've never made a simple syrup w/ vanilla, but it sounds easy enough and the closest to an ice cream syrup;  personally, I've never cared for the coffee flavorings - they just don't taste very good and leave an aftertaste.

Back in grade school, I fell in love with a girl who sat right next to me.  I was far too young to be physically attracted to her, but there was *something* about her that drew me to her.  I finally worked up the courage to tell her she really, really smelled good and she told me her mother wouldn't let her wear perfume, so she dabbed a little bit of vanilla extract behind her ears.

That was when I learned a life lesson;  boys are either hungry or horny, one or the other, all the time...just not both at the same time.

Maybe that's what I need to do; create a perfume that smells like baked goods.  Oh wait, they already have.

Anyway...something caught my eye on the Amazon listing:

(click graphic for larger view)

Stiff Upper Lip - AC/DC

Live at the Circus Krone - 2003

Purley Gates Ranch

My friends, family and regular readers of this blog know I love to look at real estate ads and I've posted a couple of times about properties I'd love to own.   I first noticed this one on the Hortenstine website a couple of years ago.  One of the realtors was nice enough to answer some questions that had "bothered" me about the listing.

The price of the property was recently reduced to $6,500,000. (from over 7 million) To be honest, I was surprised it didn't sell at the higher price and I expect it won't last much longer at that price.  Of course, there's no way I could afford it...unless I won a BIG lottery.  Even if I did win a hundred million bucks, I don't think I'd buy it now;  I'm getting too old to try to keep up such a huge property.  If I had had the money ten years ago, sure, but now?  I'd have to move my entire family and THEIR families in with me to maintain the place.  Who knows?  They might be all for that.   With three large homes and several manufactured homes for employees, there'd be plenty of room for all of us.  I'd even build a home for my big sister.

Being several miles from the nearest town of any size, I'm not sure it would have good broadband internet, though.  That might be a deal breaker!

With it being on the market for a substantial time, I'm wondering why it hasn't sold.  From looking at maps and Google Earth, it appears that one leg of the Keystone pipeline went very close to the property, but that shouldn't be a deal breaker.  I don't think there's much oil/gas production close by and part of the royalties convey.  There are coal deposits not too far away, but I doubt they'll be developed and I think the sub-surface water (springs) are in no immediate danger of drying up.  I dunno;  I'm such a pessimist and there's GOT to be some reason it hasn't been snatched up already. 

I've got my Megamillions ticket for tomorrow night; the cash option jackpot is right at 47 million after taxes, so I would have close to 40 million left after buying this place.  Maybe if my family wouldn't want to quit their jobs and move there w/ me, I could talk some of my Internet pals into it!