Nouns and Verbs is myparismagazine.com's weekly challenge where we write about what specific words mean to us. Join in the fun via the comment section, telling us how or why these ordinary nouns and verbs are meaningful to you. This week we’re thinking about NICKNAMES.
One of the many things that I love about growing up in the South is the way Southerners use language. We Southerners are as “fast as greased lightening, slow as molasses, full as a tick or ugly as a mud fence.” Yes, we’re colorful, and so are our nicknames.
Growing up in Henry County I heard plenty of nicknames. Some of them were rhymes, like my best friend, Joanie Pony, which was later shortened to just Pony. Forty-years later, she is listed as “Pony” in my cell phone contacts. Some names morph into nicknames, like my friend Jeff Perry who become known as Prairie Dog one day in grade school when we were studying animals of the Southwest. “Perry” to “Prairie” isn’t much of a stretch when you’re in fourth grade.
My all-time favorite nickname belonged to my old pal, Crawford “Crawdad” Chambers. I imagine that his named morphed from Crawford into Crawdad one day on a fishing expedition, but that’s just speculation.
I don’t know if Crawdad or Pony or Prairie Dog liked their nicknames, but they seemed to embrace them, much like Claudia Alta Taylor a.k.a. “Lady Bird” Johnson embraced hers, and rightfully so. After all, a nickname is a gift. It is uniquely yours. It’s a conversation starter. It’s often easier to remember than your given name. And it usually brings a smile to people’s faces when they meet you.
So here’s to each of you who make us grin when we call your name, be it Cotton, Tiny, Red, Hoss, Blondie, Goober, Doodle Bug, Puryear Slim, Henry Flash, Grunt, Tuncy Weence, Chip, Trip or Skip. As your mama has probably already told you, “People only call you that because they love you.”
Share your thoughts on NICKNAMES and check back often to read what others are writing.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Home
Nouns and Verbs is our weekly challenge where we write about what specific words mean to us. Join in the fun via the comment section, telling us how or why these ordinary nouns and verbs are meaningful to you. This week we’re thinking about HOME.
Home is a feeling, not a dwelling. WHERE we live isn't nearly as important as HOW we live. To find true happiness our lives must become filled with peace. We must start by loving the home that is within us. If we can feel love and affection, peace and security no matter where we are, then we are already home.
Home is a feeling, not a dwelling. WHERE we live isn't nearly as important as HOW we live. To find true happiness our lives must become filled with peace. We must start by loving the home that is within us. If we can feel love and affection, peace and security no matter where we are, then we are already home.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Success
Nouns and Verbs is our weekly challenge where we write about what specific words mean to us. Join in the fun via the comment section, telling us how or why these ordinary nouns and verbs are meaningful to you. This week we’re thinking about SUCCESS.
Success
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, it is an adaptation of a poem published in 1905 by Bessie Stanley. No version of it has been found in Emerson's writings. For more information see http://www.transcendentalists.com/success.htm
Success
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, it is an adaptation of a poem published in 1905 by Bessie Stanley. No version of it has been found in Emerson's writings. For more information see http://www.transcendentalists.com/success.htm
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Water
Nouns and Verbs is our weekly challenge where we write about what specific words mean to us. Join in the fun via the comment section, telling us how or why these ordinary nouns and verbs are meaningful to you. This week we’re thinking about WATER.
The word WATER makes me think of how much water I need to drink and how much water I don’t drink. Even with every grocery and convenient store in town filled with selections of bottled water (boo hiss), I can’t seem to drink the 64-ounces that the health gurus advocate.
I think it was that great American, Lewis Grizzard, who wrote, “I’m so glad my father didn’t live to see people buying water.” Although I’ve purchased my share of bottled water, these days I’m trying to use good old-fashioned water fountains. Here lately, I drink from every fountain I can find. Incidentally, my top pick for the best water fountain in town is the one at Chesemore Clinic on Morton Street. It’s a fantastic fountain and really should be included as part of the employee benefits package. A great runner up is the fountain at City Hall.
My funniest water fountain story happened in church, when I was about nine. I was hanging around by the water fountain before the service when our minister came flying down the hall, his black robe flapping behind him. He had apparently forgotten about a baptism that was to occur that morning. As he passed me, he pitched the solid gold baptism bowl (ok, it was brass, but it looked like gold to a nine-year-old) my way and yelled, “Quick, fill this up.”
I was stunned. I knew that only holy water was supposed to go in that bowl, and I had no idea where holy water came from. As it turns out, it comes right out of the water fountain.
I guess all water is important, in fact, it’s probably all holy - whether it comes from a plastic bottle (boo hiss), that natural spring in the park on the River Road, Chesemore Clinic, City Hall or the water fountain at church.
Share your thoughts on WATER and check back often to read what others are writing.
The word WATER makes me think of how much water I need to drink and how much water I don’t drink. Even with every grocery and convenient store in town filled with selections of bottled water (boo hiss), I can’t seem to drink the 64-ounces that the health gurus advocate.
I think it was that great American, Lewis Grizzard, who wrote, “I’m so glad my father didn’t live to see people buying water.” Although I’ve purchased my share of bottled water, these days I’m trying to use good old-fashioned water fountains. Here lately, I drink from every fountain I can find. Incidentally, my top pick for the best water fountain in town is the one at Chesemore Clinic on Morton Street. It’s a fantastic fountain and really should be included as part of the employee benefits package. A great runner up is the fountain at City Hall.
My funniest water fountain story happened in church, when I was about nine. I was hanging around by the water fountain before the service when our minister came flying down the hall, his black robe flapping behind him. He had apparently forgotten about a baptism that was to occur that morning. As he passed me, he pitched the solid gold baptism bowl (ok, it was brass, but it looked like gold to a nine-year-old) my way and yelled, “Quick, fill this up.”
I was stunned. I knew that only holy water was supposed to go in that bowl, and I had no idea where holy water came from. As it turns out, it comes right out of the water fountain.
I guess all water is important, in fact, it’s probably all holy - whether it comes from a plastic bottle (boo hiss), that natural spring in the park on the River Road, Chesemore Clinic, City Hall or the water fountain at church.
Share your thoughts on WATER and check back often to read what others are writing.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Water
Nouns and Verbs is our weekly challenge where we blog about what specific words mean to us. We invite you to join in the fun via the comment section, telling us how or why these ordinary nouns and verbs are meaningful to you. This week, the word is WATER.
We recently added a couple of blue rain barrels underneath the gutters of our garage. I went out yesterday to check on the progress and I'm happy to say the recent rainfall has them filling up quickly. When the weather dries up, I will have collected water for watering my garden, compost, flower beds and filling my birdbaths. Our barrel doesn't have a spigot or hose, so we'll transport the water with a bucket or watering can. I would enjoy hearing from anyone who has any experience in this area, or other ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.
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