My Word!

 Yesterday I came across a word I'd used in writing decades ago. I had to look up its meaning, even though I'd used it years ago. Today the word appeared in Spelling Bee as the pangram. The word is mordant.

Folder Fodder

 Going

through stuff with the thought of clearing out the detritus, I came across this forgotten vinyl carrybag, the kind Dave used to bring to the office containing files and resumes and such. But I had appropriated this one for my use, filled with college papers, memos, and, lord help us, some of my early writings. It is true that most valued had been my post-graduate exam from Dr. J. Thompson Littlefield, where he had written a personal note, and finally, an A in literature. 

But inserted in the pages, some of my early poetry . Snookie keeps telling me to write more, but I don't think she would mean of this genre:

      Mordant Terror

Sometimes in the sleepless night

Comes the cold, clear knowledge

That all are mortal and must die, 

And I feel I should call 

And invite everyone to a party

So that they might live.

But with the dawn comes daylight

And with it the illusion

That what had appeared as certainty

Is only a nightmare

And will pass. 

And then the sun comes out

And burns away the truth.

One of the last of the Charming Lane party survivors:

 Don DeWeerdt, He often showed up .

What a prude:

 but how was I to know. 

Those left-handed compliments

 Well, "high functional status" is preferable to "spry."  I guess.

Lemmings, Possums and Mattresses

 Myths that have been debunked, or should be:

Lemmings do not commit mass suicide, as depicted in Disney movie White Wilderness.

Opossums do not feast on ticks. Studies show the only ticks they consumed were as a result of their grooming themselves.

"Your mattress collects 8-9 lbs. of your dead shed skin cells per year."

   Evidently this statistic has not yet been debunked, but it should be. Though true that humans shed their skin cells, I contend showering or bathing on a regular basis would wash away a lot of shed skin. As for the skin collecting in mattresses, aren't  mattresses mostly covered by at least a sheet, usually a fitted bottom sheet, most often in addition to a mattress cover. Assuming the bedding is laundered on a fairly regular schedule, how would the skin cells find their way through to the mattress. And since most people wear pajamas, nightgowns or  nightshirts to bed, those determined skin cells would have to traverse through showers, jammies, sheets and mattress cover to penetrate or settle in or on your mattress. I cry false information, most likely promoted by mattress sellers. 

Oh, Fiddlesticks

 Everybody has an opinion now. Well, maybe they always did, but now they express their opinions, often angrily. Even wordle, a harmless enough pasttime,  is not immune from criticism. The other day, major controversy arose about the word choice of the day.  Many thought the word was just plain wrong, not even a real word. I say just because they never heard of it does not mean it was wrong. I am not a champion wordler, but the word gave me no trouble. I remember my father using the word, and I seem to remember it was an expression uttered by one of the old characters in the funny papers. Notice I did not say comic strips, because therein lies the key---old. The word is Pshaw.