Making Things Harder Just Because

           Do we really need cumbersome words when simple ones will do? I’ve somehow gotten onto the mailing lists of several sites that share long doozies that will only make us look ridiculous if we use them:

          Terpsichorean. This relates to dancing. “Oh, her terpsichorean skills were amazing.”  Pedantic + Snooty = You will never get invited back.

          Sprachgefuhl. This means a sense of the natural character of a language.  Give me a break—you use this word and no one will think you have it!

          Veridical.  First of all, people will think you’re trying to say vertical. It means true to reality, but why not just say true to reality?

          Eidolon.  This is an idealized person or thing. In this time of scrutiny and criticism, does anyone even do this anymore?

Obnubulate. This means to darken or shadow something. Can’t you just picture yourself saying, “I hope those Tenebrous clouds don’t obnubulate our wedding.”  Then, “Hey, where did the groom go?  Honey?  Honey?”

          Horripilation. Okay, I’ll admit I like this one, but only because it sounds like something horrible.  It actually means the hair on our skin standing up due to cold or fear.

          I think I’ll end with Peripeteia, because it’s something all of us would like: it’s a suddenly reversal of fortune.  Although we only want that one if it’s a grand surprise in the upward direction, right?

          While you await your peripeteia, check out my Youtube Mom videos for hundreds of easy life hacks.

Inside Info

          You think you speak English fluently. You think you have a decent vocabulary.  And then you meet someone so embedded in their hobby, that they have an entire vocabulary you’ve never heard of. 

          Just talk to a pro wrestler. You’ll hear about “blading,” where these guys actually cut themselves with a “gig” razor blade to create drama and look injured. A “job” is losing a match so the other guy will look stronger. Some wrestlers have no other job than to be a jobber.  “Kayfabe” is keeping the script a secret. It goes on and on.

          Let’s jump to the inside lingo of cat shows. “Furnishings” are not the number of sofas a cat has torn to shreds, but the hair inside the ears. A “UFO” is not a space traveling cat, but the United Feline Organization. And “Cat wash” is not a typo of car wash, but can be a bathing bag that supposedly keeps owner and cat calm during the bathing process. But it isn’t all hoity toity, there’s also the “Moggy,” a cat show for non-pedigreed cats.  

         We all like movies, but that world has its own secret language as well. The electrician is called the “Juicer.” A “Barney” is a blanket used to muffle camera noise. A “Blimp” is a box that does the same thing. A “Dope Sheet” isn’t a list of idiots on the set; it’s a list of scenes that have already been filmed. A “Squib” is a capsule of fake blood, used to look like a bullet wound (and wouldn’t this be useful to the wrestlers?) Finally, “Alan Smithee” is the only pseudonym a director can use if it’s a real stinker and they don’t want to be associated with it!

          The game show, Truth or Consequences, used to pick someone from the audience to “speak” in their occupational lingo. I watched, as a kid, fascinated. Little did I know I’d grow up to marry St. Bob, who hosted that show after Bob Barker!  And yes, like all couples, we have our secret language, too. But those examples are, well, secret.

But it's no secret that you can learn hundreds of fast life hacks right here, on my Youtube Mom channel.

Is Your Blinker Still On? And Can it Do This?

          Yes, we’ve all thought about our car’s blinkers. Some of us have not used them lately (thank you, not), but most of us are pretty good at indicating we are planning to turn.

          However, St. Bob and I just bought a new car and I have discovered an unmentioned fabulous feature: Blinkers that sound like the coconuts in Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail.

          Yes, every time I turn my blinkers on, I picture Arthur “galloping” up to the castle with his trusty servant, Patsy. He wants to ask the master of the castle if he’d like to join his court at Camelot.

Alas, having no horses, Arthur’s got Patsy banging two empty coconut halves together as they run along, trying to simulate the sound of galloping. Hilarious.

The guard at the top of the castle questions him about where he got the coconuts, England being a temperate climate and coconuts being tropical. Another guard joins the discussion, as they argue about birds that could migrate carrying heavy coconuts, and Arthur finally gives up, “galloping” away.

It's usually just in time for me to make my turn.

But if you’re home—not in your car—you can watch hundreds of short life hacks on my Youtube Mom channel!

Making a Brincadeira

          The other day we went to a party (despite that one of my Seminary students recently and wistfully said, “You’re old enough that you probably don’t get invited to many parties anymore.”)

          I was in the buffet line—of course—and the man next to me introduced me to his wife, who was from Brazil.  “Oh!” I said, “I have a friend who lived there for many years and she speaks Brazilian.”  Even as I said that, I knew my brain was searching for the correct word, ‘cause Brazilian ain’t it!

          The wife graciously smiled and didn’t correct me.

          But after I had gone through the line, the word Portuguese popped into my head, and I dashed outside on the patio to find her and apologize.

          I was so eager to do this that I bumped into her chair. Now I needed to apologize for two things. So I did, and she was very kind. But then she asked my name. 

          Yikes—until now I was hoping she would forget who I was, not re-tell the embarrassing story, certainly not flesh it out with an actual name. So I gave it to her.

And I couldn’t help thinking, maybe my seminary student was right: Maybe we won’t get invited to many parties anymore!

But if you’re at home instead of making the social circuit, take a look at my Youtube Mom videos, filled with handy life hacks! Click right here: https://m.youtube.com/c/jonihilton

Bullseye

 St. Bob just came home with this:

          Yes, it’s a target from a gun range, and those little holes will tighten up next time because he just had shoulder surgery and had to hold his pistol with one hand. He was actually not happy with this result.

          He was a sharpshooter in the military, so of course I told the kids he was the sharpshooter of ALL the military branches. But, in my defense, this could have been true. Had he not been so handsome and engaging, he could have ended up as a sniper instead of a game show host.

          And then he married me. Have you ever seen me throw darts?

          No, you have not. It looks as though I couldn’t even see the target, and aimed at the surrounding wall instead.

          But I’m consistent. If I throw a wad of paper towards a garbage can, it will miss the can every time.

          It’s the same with basketballs, baseballs-- basically any ball-- but especially guns. It’s a complete waste of ammunition to let me try shooting. But don’t worry—I have wasp spray in case someone breaks into the house. It can shoot 20 feet, sprays out like a shotgun, and drops an intruder to his knees.  Not only that, but it saves getting multiple holes in the walls.

         Aren’t you glad I’m not into hatchet throwing?

          Take a shot at my Youtube Mom videos—you’ll hit something great every time!

Did You Know This?

           I think the reason we can’t remember as well when we’re older, is because we’ve crammed too much useless trivia in there. I will never forget the theme to Gilligan’s Island, nor the words to the Woody Woodpecker cartoon song, and no solution is in sight.

          So when St. Bob found a list of trivia on his phone, he immediately decided to test my knowledge.

          “There are 100 folds in a French chef’s hat,” he said. “What do they stand for?”

          “How many ways you can prepare an egg,” I said.

          He was stunned. “How do you know that?” (And I still say I’m going to make that my ring tone someday.)

          “Suma Cum Laude, Baby,” I said.  This always gets big laughs for some reason.

          He scanned the list for another tough question. “If you know this one, I will be awed,” he said.

“You’re already odd,” I said. Ba-doom-boom.

“What do the people of Japan eat for Christmas?” 

          I had no idea.

          “Kentucky Fried Chicken,” he said. 

Turns out turkey is scarce there, so KFC campaigned for a spot on the menu, and got it. They eat other traditional food as well, but the Colonel’s secret recipe was a hit, and has been for 50 years.

          And now I will probably store that useless bit of information right next to the Looney Tunes opening music.

Time to cram your noggin’ full of life hacks—check out the hundreds I have on my Youtube Mom channel! (Way more than the number of folds in a chef’s hat!)

 

St. Bob Becomes a Mogul

           We all have wild dreams. Most of us shelve them, only occasionally imagining what we’d do if we ever hit it really big. But I never knew about one of St. Bob’s secret dreams.

          He went to a friend’s cabin, opened a cupboard, and (cue the Heavenly choir) saw an entire display box of Butterfingers. Yes, these are the boxes you see on store shelves.

          “You can buy these?” Bob gasped.

          “Sure,” his friend said.

          Needless to say, the minute Bob got home, he drove to Walmart, lifted the entire Butterfinger display off the shelf, placed it on the conveyor belt, and came home a luminary, a commander of legions, a king of commerce.

         All in one glorious moment. This day he conquered the Mount Everest of candy acquisition.  Rare is the purchasing giant who can actually go to his pantry anytime and find a box of Butterfingers from which he can casually choose.

          Ahh… to attain such heights, such majesty. He has proudly shown it to several visitors, but stopped when he realized they might want one. Now it sits in silent secrecy, awaiting his visits.

          And I am married to that genius.

Although this isn’t one of them, you can find other exciting life hacks in my Youtube Mom videos.