Category: Nonfiction

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Wacky Wednesday: March 24

Welcome to another Wacky Wednesday where we explore some wacky words along with some wacky holidays. We will continue our exploration into slang words from the 1920s. Some of these are still used today. Our first word, Baby, refers to any person and can be used for any gender. Folks in Hollywood still talk this way. Maybe you’ve heard your grandparents say something’s a lot of Baloney. They mean it’s nonsense or something not to be believed. The phrase Be on the nut means to be broke. I want to bring that phrase back. It’s fun to say. And finally, a Bean-shooter is another name for a firearm.

We have two token food holidays today. Today is National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day and National Cheesesteak Day. They both are delicious. Cheesesteaks are sandwiches first developed in South Philadelphia. Today is also National Equal Pay Day. This day changes annually and occurs in March or April to represent how far into the year a woman works to earn as much as a man for the same work. Currently, women make about $0.82 to $0.85 for every $1 earned by men. It’s time to close the wage gap. This holiday was started in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity.

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Coffee and Contemplation: IT by Stephen King

I’m posting a little late today. Don’t hold that against me. Today’s book discussion is about “IT” by Stephen King. What can I say about this book? It came into the world around the same time I did. It was published in September of 1986. I was also “published” in September of 1986. Coincidence? I think not. But I digress. This book was long. Longer than it needed to be. While I enjoyed the back-and-forth of childhood and adulthood with the main characters, half the novel could have been left out. And the ending was anti-climactic.

I did enjoy the newest film adaptations of the book. The ending of “IT Chapter 2” was still lackluster. The first film was perfect and is still in my top ten favorite films of all time. But back to the book. Lots of scary sequences. I enjoyed most of the novel. As I mentioned earlier, several parts could have been cut out to make the overall novel stronger. Part of me also wants to know more about Pennywise before meeting the kids that eventually killed the hungry clown. It’s worth reading once. It doesn’t feel like something that needs to be read multiple times.

I do recommend this book. Definitely not for children.

Spooky Spider Scale (How scary was the book?): 8/10 spiders 🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️

Overall rating: 4 stars ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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Wacky Wednesday: March 17

For today’s Wacky Wednesday, we are starting with a new list of words. We now begin our trek into 1920’s slang. We’re bringing some of these terms back for the 2020’s. Many of these have short definitions so you’re getting many of them at once. First, we have Alderman which means a man’s potbelly. Next is Ameche (I’m not sure about pronunciation), which stood for a telephone. Then we have Ankle which has two meanings. As a verb is means to walk. As a noun is means a woman. And as a nice segue, our last word for the day is Babe which also refers to a woman.

For our holidays today, we all know it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m not going to get into the history or origins because there are a thousand other places you can find that info. If you don’t like research, we can’t be friends. Our token food holiday is National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day. This is appropriate for all the “Irish for a day” folks out there. I happen to be 10% Irish, so my celebrations have a different meaning this year. And finally, on the third Wednesday of March every year, it’s National Small Business Development Centers Day. SBDCs support entrepreneurs in the pursuit of small business ownership. Have a drink for the folks who’ve been helping small businesses since 1976.