Maw Here. Maw HUNGRY.


Wherein Our Heroine Feeds It.
My thoughts are confused, random, tumbling things this morning. I can't seem to latch on to anything long enough to spin it into something interesting. John Scalzi hit the nail rather squarely on the head when he referred to writing a blog as "feeding the maw." It's an interesting problem in and of itself: coming up with reasonably unique essays on a daily (or at least weekdaily) basis without having the well run dry.

Many of my essays are almost refined conversations I have had with various people. Anyone who has known me for a while has heard me grind my teeth over airline speak or rant about the general misuse of language. (Yes, I do own a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. It is even a signed copy. Fear me, for I am a language geek.) So, I started thinking about conversation. How many original things do we really say every day? How many original thoughts get produced, let alone aired, on a daily basis? How many times have we said or heard the same rants from our selves or our friends? I would venture to guess the numerical answer would probably run to the triple digits.

Once, as a snotty teenager, I heard my father winding up on one of his favorite rants: the 55 MPH speed limit. Before he had gotten to his pièce de résistance, "The American Public has repealed de facto the 55 MPH speed limit!" I started bending over and peering at his feet. Thrown off of his stride, he stopped and looked at me, wondering what was wrong.

Addressing my mother and my friend, who were the current auditors of this polished and practiced tirade, I said, "I'm sorry - did anyone else see a soapbox?" Luckily, Dad was in a mellow mood (mellower than his revival-tent-style orating would have suggested) and he stopped, smiling sheepishly.

I am truly, truly grateful I have no teenagers in my life at present. Most of my friends have gentler means of stopping me in repetitive mid-rant. Sledgehammers, for instance, work nicely.

Posted: Tuesday - June 15, 2004 at 08:49 AM         | |

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