The title does not refer to some kind of German catchphrase nor is it the name of a legal firm, although it's pretty good if you're looking to set up in the lawyer business.
"Dove" is not the past tense of "to dive", thousands of illiterate authors notwithstanding. It is a bird. The past tense of "to dive" is "dived". As in, he dived into the novel in spite of not being able to conjugate verbs.
Today I came across something quite shocking, considering that the novel I was reading was really well written--pure escape fiction, but that is almost all I read nowadays with my mushy brain. The word in question is "stang", the past tense of "to sting". It is a word I am sure Texans will take to with joy. Since I can talk Texan, even I plan to use it. It just fits something fierce:
"Wahl, by dang, thet wasp jist stang the bejesus outta mah butt!"
In case you are morbidly interested, the past tense is "stung", but I'll bet you knew that. I think "stang" should be up there with other Texan words such as fahr (fire), flars (flowers), awl (oil and all), and my all-time favorite, "Jeet yit?"
jueves, 13 de junio de 2013
lunes, 10 de junio de 2013
Peculiarities in the park
For the first time in about a month, I was able to take my dogs for a 5K walk. We all needed it. And as usual there was a nut or two loose on the running path, and I do not refer to the acorns blown down by last night's violent thunderstorm.
A young woman with a Blue Heeler was coming toward me as I neared the end of my walk, with maybe less than a kilometer and a half to go. Blue Heelers are often difficult to train unless you are my brother. Since the young lady obviously was not he, she was having a little bit of a hard time. When she saw us approach, she made her dog sit. The dog was not happy with this turn of events, but it did as it was told.
Behind the girl came an old guy toddling along as best he could. Seeing that the girl was struggling with the dog, he suddenly screamed for all to hear, "Kill it!! Kill it!! They aren't any use to anybody and all they do is make a mess in the park!!!"
By this time I had passed them both and did not observe the girl's reaction, but I felt myself included in the old fart's opinion because I was certainly within his shouting range. And he for sure was not referring to the Blue Heeler breed but to dogs in general.
A number of come-backs occurred to me as I went on, but it seems the real problem is that this miserable old fool doesn't have a cause in life better than getting angry at dog owners, and it is really a shame to get to old age so embittered and angry. We are all going to get old, but to get there feeling unsatisfied, unloved, or immersed in a world we don't understand is a tragedy. And don't ask me what the secret is, either, because I don't know. All I can say is that people I've known who have stuck with a rotten marriage, or think their children are disappointments, or think no one appreciates them, are usually the cause of their own misery.
If you want to get psychoanalytic about it, that poor old guy was screaming about himself...
On a lighter note, although not for long if I eat them, I got all the ingredients for chilaquiles and intend to attempt my daughter-in-law´s spectacular recipe. The tomatoes I will use are from my square foot garden. The plant got so huge I had to remove it and make different plans for a new plant, but in the meantime I have tomatoes that actually have flavor!
A young woman with a Blue Heeler was coming toward me as I neared the end of my walk, with maybe less than a kilometer and a half to go. Blue Heelers are often difficult to train unless you are my brother. Since the young lady obviously was not he, she was having a little bit of a hard time. When she saw us approach, she made her dog sit. The dog was not happy with this turn of events, but it did as it was told.
Behind the girl came an old guy toddling along as best he could. Seeing that the girl was struggling with the dog, he suddenly screamed for all to hear, "Kill it!! Kill it!! They aren't any use to anybody and all they do is make a mess in the park!!!"
By this time I had passed them both and did not observe the girl's reaction, but I felt myself included in the old fart's opinion because I was certainly within his shouting range. And he for sure was not referring to the Blue Heeler breed but to dogs in general.
A number of come-backs occurred to me as I went on, but it seems the real problem is that this miserable old fool doesn't have a cause in life better than getting angry at dog owners, and it is really a shame to get to old age so embittered and angry. We are all going to get old, but to get there feeling unsatisfied, unloved, or immersed in a world we don't understand is a tragedy. And don't ask me what the secret is, either, because I don't know. All I can say is that people I've known who have stuck with a rotten marriage, or think their children are disappointments, or think no one appreciates them, are usually the cause of their own misery.
If you want to get psychoanalytic about it, that poor old guy was screaming about himself...
On a lighter note, although not for long if I eat them, I got all the ingredients for chilaquiles and intend to attempt my daughter-in-law´s spectacular recipe. The tomatoes I will use are from my square foot garden. The plant got so huge I had to remove it and make different plans for a new plant, but in the meantime I have tomatoes that actually have flavor!
sábado, 8 de junio de 2013
Vampires
There are certain kinds of people in life that seem to suck up every pleasure, every small achievement, every tiny happiness, every moment of kindness and relaxation, every quiet enjoyment of nature that you might experience.
They seem to find it imperative to point out faults, failures, or human errors in everything you do, write or say. These are the parents who wind up alienating their children, folks who drive away spouses who have sense enough to leave, who when angry, upset or depressed will take it out on others in order not to have to recognize what is happening to them.
It isn't that many of these pathetic people can't love; their self esteem is so low that having to acknowledge it would kill them, that having to feel the depth of their self-loathing would be a mortal blow.
Everything you do is judged by them. It's as if they are ever on the alert to find a fly in the ointment, or the minute grain of sand on a pristine floor. They often manage to hook up with people who need to go through life being judged, so as couples they form the ideal mesh of pathologies until someone manages to change--if it ever happens.
There is a certain kind of envy in psychology that goes beyond the "I wish I had what that guy has" type, the garden variety envy that all of us feel. These emotional vampires feel an envy so corrosive that if they cannot have or be what they envy, they want to destroy it in the other person. It is a hideous, soul-killing envy that injures everyone around them.
Others, however, prefer to provoke irritation or anger in the rest of us so we have no chance of exploring what they are all about; the black fear that someone might discover how worthless they really are makes them guarantee their safety by getting everyone else angry, a sure-fire way of avoiding intimacy and everything it might reveal.
In my experience with family and friends who suffer from this kind of emotional rabies, they may have every kind of courage in the world except one: the courage to face their own feelings about themselves. Their most horrific fear is having to find out how they feel about themselves in all its ghastly detail, in spite of the fact that once done, it seems to be a case of much ado about nothing.
They hide behind a wall of judgmental criticism and fault-finding that keeps everyone out--because who in his right mind would want to go there? And yet they yearn for affection, admiration, and closeness while making sure it will never happen.
It is a nightmare to be this kind of vampire. Keep it in mind next time you come across one, but don't put up for a minute with his/her attacks. It constitutes psychological abuse, and tolerating it only prolongs the vampire's capacity for self-deception. And surely you deserve more than this.
They seem to find it imperative to point out faults, failures, or human errors in everything you do, write or say. These are the parents who wind up alienating their children, folks who drive away spouses who have sense enough to leave, who when angry, upset or depressed will take it out on others in order not to have to recognize what is happening to them.
It isn't that many of these pathetic people can't love; their self esteem is so low that having to acknowledge it would kill them, that having to feel the depth of their self-loathing would be a mortal blow.
Everything you do is judged by them. It's as if they are ever on the alert to find a fly in the ointment, or the minute grain of sand on a pristine floor. They often manage to hook up with people who need to go through life being judged, so as couples they form the ideal mesh of pathologies until someone manages to change--if it ever happens.
There is a certain kind of envy in psychology that goes beyond the "I wish I had what that guy has" type, the garden variety envy that all of us feel. These emotional vampires feel an envy so corrosive that if they cannot have or be what they envy, they want to destroy it in the other person. It is a hideous, soul-killing envy that injures everyone around them.
Others, however, prefer to provoke irritation or anger in the rest of us so we have no chance of exploring what they are all about; the black fear that someone might discover how worthless they really are makes them guarantee their safety by getting everyone else angry, a sure-fire way of avoiding intimacy and everything it might reveal.
In my experience with family and friends who suffer from this kind of emotional rabies, they may have every kind of courage in the world except one: the courage to face their own feelings about themselves. Their most horrific fear is having to find out how they feel about themselves in all its ghastly detail, in spite of the fact that once done, it seems to be a case of much ado about nothing.
They hide behind a wall of judgmental criticism and fault-finding that keeps everyone out--because who in his right mind would want to go there? And yet they yearn for affection, admiration, and closeness while making sure it will never happen.
It is a nightmare to be this kind of vampire. Keep it in mind next time you come across one, but don't put up for a minute with his/her attacks. It constitutes psychological abuse, and tolerating it only prolongs the vampire's capacity for self-deception. And surely you deserve more than this.
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