24:15 Everything And Nothing

This post is a lot about everything and nothing.

In any family life there are major milestones that mark the way: birthdays, holidays, graduations, sports games, new beginnings and endings.

These things stick out in our memory.

In between signposts is a lot of highway. It’s not particularly interesting, but it must be traveled in order to get to the next waypoint.

I’ve been on that highway lately, in between nowhere and somewhere else.

What a man chooses to do -- now that’s where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it?

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OUGH

OUGH

I'm taught p-l-o-u-g-h shall be pronounced "plow"!
"Zat's easy when you know," I say,
"Mon anglais, I'll get through!"

My teacher say zat, "in zat case, o-u-g-h is "oo"!"
And zen I laugh and say to him,
"Zees Anglais make me cough."

He say, "Not "coo", but in zat word, o-u-g-h is "off"."
"Oh, _______! Such varied sounds
Of words makes me to hiccough!"

He say, "Again mon frien' ees wrong;
O-u-g-h is "up" in hiccough."
Zen I cry, "No more, You make my t'rout feel rough."

"Non, not!" he cry, "You are not right; o-u-g-h is "uff"."
I say, "I try to spik your words,
I cannot spik zem though!"

"In time you'll learn, but now you're wrong!
O-u-g-h is "owe". "I'll try no more, I shall go mad,
I'll drown me in ze l'ough!"

"But ere you drown yourself," said he, "O-u-g-h is "ock"!"
He taught no more, I held him fast,
And killed him weeth a rough!

Composed well over a century ago, this bit of light verse by Charles Battell Loomis nicely illustrates the vagaries of English spelling and pronunciation.

Now with Placebo action!

I just recently got back to the land of the living, so I thought I'd share this tiny tidbit.

Not too many things make me laugh out loud, especially when I'm watching TV by myself, but this commercial did. I'm sure it's not meant to be funny, but too bad. Ha!

The commercial is for Puff Plus with Vicks scent. First of all, if you've ever tried the Plus variety, you know its full of lotion. While that feels good on a sore nose, it's also annoying because you're never quite sure if your nose is actually clean after you blow it. After all, it's kind of the same consistency ...

Anyway, the thing that made me laugh was that they are advertising it with the scent of Vicks. It doesn't actually contain any medication to clear up your nose, they're just trying to  fool you into thinking it does by adding the smell.

Of course, if you're so stuffed up that you would actually need some Vicks Roto-Rooter action -- you're not going to be able to smell it!

Ah, but I think I smelled Vicks, so I'm feeling less congested ... or something.  [Sniff] Ahh, placebo!