I am a traditionalist, too.

Happy birthday, theresat!

Thursday evening: Randomness makes a post?

1. [Insert Chuck Norris line here]



2. I had no idea this expression was this old:

(Wikipedia)

To "call a spade a spade" is to speak honestly and directly about a topic, specifically topics that others may avoid speaking about due to their sensitivity or embarrassing nature. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1913) defines it as

“ To be outspoken, blunt, even to the point of rudeness; to call things by their proper names without any “beating about the bush”. ”

Its ultimate source is Plutarch's Apophthegmata Laconica (178B) which has την σκαφην σκαφην λεγοντας. σκαφη means "basin, trough", but it was mis-translated as ligo "shovel" by Erasmus in his Apophthegmatum opus. Lucian De Hist. Conscr. (41) has τα συκα συκα, την σκαφην δε σκαφην ονομασων "calling a fig a fig, and a trough a trough".

The phrase was introduced to English in 1542 in Nicolas Udall's translation of Erasmus, Apophthegmes, that is to saie, prompte saiynges. First gathered by Erasmus:

Philippus aunswered, that the Macedonians wer feloes of no fyne witte in their termes but altogether grosse, clubbyshe, and rusticall, as they whiche had not the witte to calle a spade by any other name then a spade.

The OED records a more forceful variant, "to call a spade a bloody shovel", attested since 1919.
The phrase predates the use of the word "spade" as an ethnic slur, which was not recorded in usage until 1928; however, in contemporary U.S. society, the idiom is often avoided due to potential confusion with the modern racial slur.

3. Does anyone else think the words in red on this web page are tacky? If you think I am crazy to think they are, please tell me.

4. When you taunt Happy Fun Liam, your team loses, and you have to leave before the game is over. I would have loved to have been a fly near your desk this morning.

5. Happy birthday, chica!




6. I think Barack Obama oughta offer Joe Biden the secretary of state position, and when Biden says "yes," he oughta make Sen. Clinton his running mate. Game, set, match. Oh, he'd have to life with it, but stil  . . .

7. OK, now tell me why I have "Screams of the Vegetables" stuck in my head. There is a valid reason.

I will not be at EKU this weekend . . .

I meant to mention this earlier, but much to my dismay, I will be unable to get to EKU this weekend, and therefore my classes have been canceled.

I am sorry.

"Real life" got in the way.

[Edited to include the fact that the princess *will* be there and that I am fine. I just have something I *have* to do]