\"Writing.Com
*Magnify*
    July     ►
SMTWTFS
  
2
5
6
8
12
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Archive RSS
Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/profile/blog/beholden/sort_by/entry_order DESC, entry_creation_time DESC/page/32
Rated: 13+ · Book · Experience · #2223922

A tentative blog to test the temperature.

Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end.

So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.


Signature for those who are nominated for a Quill Award in 2021 Quill Nominee Signature 2022 Quill Finalist Logo 2022 2023 Quill Nominee
Previous ... 28 29 30 31 -32- 33 34 35 36 37 ... Next
May 4, 2022 at 9:09pm
May 4, 2022 at 9:09pm
#1031935
Acronyms

I have always thought that the reason for creating acronyms was to shorten long names and so speed up the process of talking about them. Obviously, this only made sense for those things that were spoken about often. Less chatworthy subjects hardly needed an acronym, being so rarely mentioned.

Lately, however, my faith in the theory has been shaken. Every day I seem to be confronted with an acronym I’ve never heard before and have no idea of its meaning. America seems obsessed with the assigning of acronyms to new diseases, committees, departments, etc. faster than I can learn them. It’s no longer a way to make life easier; it’s become yet another tool for muddying the waters of understanding.

It used to be the convention that, when introducing an acronym into a treatise, speech or discussion, one would first express the full name of the thing, then put the acronym in brackets (parentheses) immediately after it. Once that had been done, the acronym could be used in the rest of the document without explanation.

The game is very different now. The kudos goes to those who can squeeze the most acronyms into a single paragraph, especially if they are so rarely used that it is almost guaranteed that no one will understand what they mean. Since there are too many to be remembered and enquired about, they are meekly accepted and the speaker or writer can be assured that whatever is being pushed will succeed.

The whole thing becomes ridiculous and we, the acronym-challenged, should fight back by inventing our own stupidly long and pointless acronyms. Join the revolution now and become unintelligible tomorrow!

CLOTHEARS

(Council for Long Overstatements of Tedious Homilies on Exhausting and Awkward Revolutionary Schemes)



Word count: 288
May 2, 2022 at 11:31pm
May 2, 2022 at 11:31pm
#1031833
Shrinkage

If we're supposed to start shrinking when we get old, how come it gets harder and harder to reach the ground?
May 1, 2022 at 8:34pm
May 1, 2022 at 8:34pm
#1031782
To Infinity and Beyond!

The television told me to go to the Infiniti site, so I did. Boy, that site is endless. I began to think I was trapped in there forever. In the end, I had to steal my own identity to get out.
April 30, 2022 at 3:28pm
April 30, 2022 at 3:28pm
#1031721
A Lament for the Past

It is a great pity that the bus conductor has disappeared into the fog of history. This was, perhaps, the last profession in which, each and every day, you could tell people where to get off.
April 29, 2022 at 5:52pm
April 29, 2022 at 5:52pm
#1031614
Harsh Reality

It seems the Germans may have a sense of humour after all. Andrea has just translated this message on the back of a German biker's jacket: "If you can read this, my wife has fallen off."
April 28, 2022 at 10:19pm
April 28, 2022 at 10:19pm
#1031566
It's All About Attitude

Some time ago I was told, "Your attitude is la-di-da, I don't care, my underwear." Don't ask me - this came out of the blue.

Actually, the whole thing can be explained by the fact that we had bought a coffee percolator. Andrea had become fed up with the filter coffee makers, thanks to their tendency to get dirty very quickly and to spill liquid over the counter at every opportunity. So we took a step back in technology and bought a shiny, stainless steel percolator of elegant proportions.

One morning I tried to get the last of the previous day's coffee from it (yes, I don't mind drinking it old and cold), only to find I was pouring clear water. Obviously, Andrea had prepared it the night before so that all that needed doing was to plug it in. I did so and, in due course, I had my first coffee of the day (steaming hot for a change).

Half an hour later Andrea gets up and expresses some surprise that the coffee is ready and waiting for her. I expounded my theory that she had done the necessary the previous day but she denied it. At which point, I resorted to plan B, claiming that the coffee fairy must have visited. This would never be sufficient for Andrea and, after a little research, she established that the Boy had made it during the night.

Now, he doesn't drink coffee and never makes it. This seemed to me so unlikely an explanation that the coffee fairy returned as the main candidate. Why, after all, would the Boy make coffee? Andrea guessed that he was awake all night on the computer game and needed to remain so. But she worried away at the thing until finally I said, "Your attitude to everything is to worry about it." It was at this moment that the response regarding my own attitude was produced. Bear in mind that it was early in the morning and she had just begun her day. All perfectly logical.

Except the part about the underwear. That is what made us laugh. In fact, we're still giggling about it. In such ways are family sayings originated.



Word count: 366
April 27, 2022 at 9:54pm
April 27, 2022 at 9:54pm
#1031509
Not to Worry

Here's one for the old fogies. As we get older, it becomes apparent that we learned some pretty useless facts at our parents' knees. My father, for instance, would meet every sign of anxiety in others by expressing the mantra, "Not to worry - use Pear's soap." Clearly, this was an old advertising slogan that had lodged itself in his brain. Now I find myself repeating the words in exactly the same circumstances and usually I have to explain to mystified looks the reason for my strange outburst.

There is a happy result of my outdated affliction, however. Having been regaled with the advice several times, Andrea recently purchased a bar of the relevant soap. I was surprised that it is still in production, not having heard of it in years, but it proved to be the real thing. It was, just as I had described, translucent and amber in color, oval in shape. Perhaps more to the point, I washed my hands with it today and experienced a huge feeling of relief. At last I do not have to worry...



Word count: 180
April 25, 2022 at 6:11am
April 25, 2022 at 6:11am
#1031316
Insurance

Geico tells me that I could save 15% or moron car insurance. What they don't explain is why I should have moron car insurance in the first place - are they insulting my intelligence? Or maybe they don't approve of my choice of transport...
April 23, 2022 at 8:00pm
April 23, 2022 at 8:00pm
#1031256
Superhero Dream

Lollipop Man - everyone takes him for a sucker but he can really stick it to them.
April 6, 2022 at 7:06pm
April 6, 2022 at 7:06pm
#1030208
The Writing’s on the Wall

There are some videos that do their songs no good at all. This one by OK Go is a case in point. It is filled with optical illusions and becomes so fascinating that all attention to the song is drained. Having watched and listened just once, I am only conscious of a mildly pleasant pop ditty in the background. To write something about the song, I am going to have to listen a second time.

Maybe that was the intent. But not everyone is going to be listening with the idea of writing something for the Media Prompt Challenge afterwards. For the vast majority of people, the video will merely be a distraction and not a riveting marketing ploy.

So I listened again. And read the lyrics. It is, as my brief experience had suggested, a fairly standard, bright, cheerful and bouncy little song with nothing to make it stand out from its competitors. The lyrics are as close to meaningless as possible without being complete nonsense. Yes, it’s about the beginnings of love (big surprise there) and I suppose a case could be made for the disjointed lack of a logical thrust reflecting the disorientation of a mind in the first throes of young love. But that may be too optimistic. The same could easily be said about any number of pop songs.

In the end, the only thing that is memorable about the song is the video. I find myself wondering how many of the illusions were created in reality (a terrible amount of work involved in that) and how much was thanks to computer graphics. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. The net result is a succession of cleverly constructed scenes that dissolve into something entirely different. The mind is kept busy, trying to keep track of the way in which the scene has been built up.

The final scene, in which we get an impression of the vastness of the warehouse used for creation of the video, and so many people start emerging from various parts of the scenery, it becomes apparent that a fair amount of money has been spent in promoting this song. Especially if all those people were involved in the design and building of the sets. They all have to be paid, after all.

I can only presume that someone, somewhere, has done their homework and is confident that this little ditty is going to wow its chosen market and sell in the millions. And who am I to criticise, who loves Status Quo in spite of the fact they only know one tune and just change the words each time?



Word count: 442
For 49-Hour Challenge: Media Prompt, 04.06.22

The Writing's On the Wall by OK Go.


474 Entries *Magnify*
Page of 48 10 per page   < >
Previous ... 28 29 30 31 -32- 33 34 35 36 37 ... Next

© Copyright 2025 Beholden (UN: beholden at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Beholden has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/profile/blog/beholden/sort_by/entry_order DESC, entry_creation_time DESC/page/32