Criminals do not die by the hands of the law. They die by the hands of other men.
-- George Bernard Shaw --
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-- George Bernard Shaw --
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My movie group is meeting this afternoon for "Precious" and dinner. Naturally, it's raining. There were seven people who signed up for this movie, but there's one woman who has signed up for everything so far in the two groups, and she has canceled (or not shown up) every time. As expected, she canceled again, so there'll be six of us.
Between the two groups (movie and singles') I have 53 members. The singles' group will be attending an auction the first weekend in February. After that, I don't have the faintest idea what to do with them next.
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Heard yesterday:
A guy saw his girlfriend with another man, "engaging in sexual orientation with him." The girlfriend denied that any "sexual orientation was going on". They said it several times. They confused me.
A woman said of another, "she been knew that". Not a slip of the lip as I first thought. Repeated.
Sigh. Our school taxes at work.
I watched some videos of the next crop of Amazing Race contestants. A married couple said that they had always wanted to do this, and "were humbled by" getting "this far", chosen to compete.
Humbled? I hear that a lot these days, that someone is "humbled" by something that pleases them enormously. I guess they're trying not to gloat. Trying to look (inappropriately) humble. I guess that's PC talk. The correct word is "honored". It's the fashion to replace "honored" by "humbled", I guess.
I also object to overuse of the word "hero". I seems to me that someone hired to do a job, trained to do that job, who does something well within the expected set of duties for that job, not outside expectations, is not a hero for doing the job. Sorry, Scully. You're one hell of a pilot, but not a hero.
A professional firefighter who goes into a burning building is not a hero. That's part of the job definition. A volunteer fireman who does the same thing might be considered a hero, because he didn't necessarily sign up for that. And so on.
I just fuss that calling anyone and everyone a hero because we are grateful for what they do, or because they survived some danger, dilutes the meaning of "hero".
Same thing with standing ovations. When people get them just for showing up, they no longer have meaning.
I'm getting meaner and nastier as I sit here. That mysterous far-off "thrum thrum thrum" sound outside is back today, and it's driving me crazy. I can't escape it. Even high volume on the TV doesn't cover it.
Next house is going to be deep in a valley.
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2 comments:
About the "been knew that" - yeah, it's hard to reconcile my property taxes with the school system spending about $15K per child per year and ending up with "been knew that."
Maybe your no-show has social anxiety disorder and keeps signing up but doesn't work up the nerve?
And I'm completely with you on the "hero" and standing o thing. A soldier signs up to be in danger. There is extraordinary bravery, which makes someone a hero. I don't necessarily think that serving in Afghanistan immediately makes someone a hero.
Although I rarely go to concerts or the theater, the performance has to be outstanding for me to even think of a standing ovation. There have been times when I've just sat there while everyone else was up, hooraying.
I am with you on the "hero" thing.
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