It's difficult in the nascent period of anything, be it a job, a relationship, or a blog, to determine just how much and what to say. From what I've seen of bloggers the spectrum is wide, from the minutiae of daily life (as the title here ironically implies) to some desperate attempt at belabored profundity. I'm sure to fall somewhere in between.
I continue to be impressed with my new friends and with life in general. When things are going well, you really have to breathe it deeply, you know? And it makes small setbacks much easier to smooth out. For instance, I wanted to have some kickin' pictures of the External Tank moving from the Turning Basin to the VAB for all of you today, but got stuck reviewing schematics. Nas was kind enough to counsel me through it, as she is wont to do with many of her friends, natural born mentor that she is. And our vocabulary sparring today helped take my mind off the missed opportunity.
I'd like to share with you a word I didn't know existed until today: synecdoche. Go ahead, look it up. I'll wait.
Ok, back? If you knew it already, you must leave a comment. Nas knew it, and I was duly impressed. I can't believe there's a word for that concept! What's even stranger is the pronunciation. It helped to have the audio file online. Think "Schenectady." I'm resolved to using synecdoches as much as possible in everyday conversation now. "Taste my steel, knave!"
There are two other things I've been obliged to mention. The first is FOB. I'll see what I can to do explicate this little inside joke, but of course you know it's never funny if you have to explain it. I was recently informed during my twenty-minute crash course on Persian history and culture that FOB is not just everyone's favorite synonym for 'deception,' but also an acronym for "Fresh Off the Boat." It's used in reference to people who have yet to or refuse to assimilate to their new country's customs and language. Those already familiar with this term had a field day when Dannon recently truncated their trademark phrase "Fruit on the Bottom." Hilarity ensued.
The final topic of the day is siesta. After hearing so much about them recently, I relented and took a little catnap yesterday evening. I awoke so refreshed I had to share the news. Nas and I shortly concluded that naps could be the key to world peace. How could you kill your neighbor when they're all cute and groggy? It's no wonder I envy Spanish culture so much.
Posted by George at January 6, 2005 08:18 AMHaving once lived in Schenectady and being ever so proud of being able to spell it without even a blink of thought for many years of my childhood - I'm astounded that you tell me to pronounce synecdoche similarly... it's like retraining your tongue and lips to work together...
eh - I'll get over it, new vocabulary word in tow.
and a hearty welcome to you new blog brother! What a good start you've got already!
Posted by: Abby at January 6, 2005 09:58 PMThanks for the welcome Abby...you ain't too shabby yourself. Man, I couldn't resist.
I hear ya, though. When I first saw synecdoche I tried to pronounce it with a French accent. Something like sin'-eck-doshe.
What can you tell me about Schenectady?
Well, I don't know about synechdoche, but I can't think of a better person to beef up an...well, anything linguistic than naseem. She's the [wo]man.
And for the record, I always refer to it as "fruit on the bottom" and not the truncated version. :)
Posted by: lacey at January 6, 2005 10:15 PMhmm. I was headed more towards a cinek-dosh pronunciation... perhaps a bit of a persian accent. Nas?
And if Troy is the armpit of NY, Schenectady would then be the flabby under arm...but I hear she's been taking some boxing lessons...
Posted by: Abby at January 7, 2005 01:02 PMgeorge, this blog entry is publishable. and the references to me had no influence on that conclusion. :)
lace, thanks for the props. you my girl.
and abs... i dunno. i think if a native persian-speaker looked at such a word and really tried to pronounce it, they'd probably just opt out and substitute the name of some province of Iran with a few of the same sounds. if you want me to test it out, i can try it on my mom... :)
Posted by: nas at January 7, 2005 01:57 PMWow, thanks Nas. That totally makes up for the critiques my writing suffers here at work.
Posted by: george at January 7, 2005 04:12 PMyo - synecdoche rocks. and for better or worse, i did know what it means. alas, those SAT prep classes have stuck with me over the years!
Posted by: delara at January 8, 2005 10:59 AMoh, and siestas rock too!
the danger of comments is that they could become like email exchanges! so i'll write you additional thoughts via gmail instead of creating novels here. haha!
Posted by: delara at January 8, 2005 11:04 AMI knew the word! But only because Nas told me. And now I know why she mentioned that word. It's all making sense now.....
Posted by: greg at January 10, 2005 02:56 PM