rone

This lyric from Sarah McLachlan's "Do What You Have to Do" has bugged me since i first heard it:

What ravages of spirit
conjured this temptuous rage?

I must note that i picked up the 'you insensitive clod' option from ewx, although it seems that senji has also used it.

Last Saturday, Kim and i went with allannah and her family to see Cirque du Soleil's Kooza (for some reason, our show didn't feature the unicyclist or the acrobats on stilts), which was a marvelous show, more circus-y and less plot-driven than other CdS shows, and absolutely fun, despite being also more clown-heavy than other shows.  After the show, we had a fabulous and decadent meal at The Melting Pot.  After the meal, there was postcard spam on the car, advertising some to-do; nothing noteworthy, except for the "Dress Code Lavish:"

NO Sports Wear, Jeans or Tennis Shoes. You Must Have on a Collard Shirt!

Brassica fashion is edgy, man.

I'm sure the smart guys at languagelog would have an academically supported term for this, but i'm particularly irked by what i call "reflective usage", or using words in a sense that happens to be completely wrong in a sense of viewpoint, but makes sense if you manage to twist your brain in that direction.  The two big culprits are "jealous" and "cynical".

Jealousy is an exaggeratedly protective attitude one has towards a perceived rival for one of one's resources.  However, through usage it has become synonymous with envy.  Thus, B is envious of A's thing and covets it, and A jealously guards it.  But now, B is jealous of A, and A is jealous of B's jealousy.

I realize that "cynic" comes from the Greek word for "doglike", and that Cynic philosophy seems rather opposed to its modern meaning; however, this is outside of the scope of this particular plaint.  When one is cynical, it means that one distrusts the motives of others, especially when the actions of others seem beneficent.  However, these days it also refers, as Merriam-Webster puts it, to something that is "based on or reflecting a belief that human conduct is motivated primarily by self-interest (“a cynical ploy to cheat customers”)."  Essentially, it's transferring the feeling of distrust from the subject to the actions of the object, when it ought to be something like, "I was cynical about the plainly self-interested ploy to cheat customers."

Both usages are ridiculous, and they ought to be stamped out.

NOT A WORD

Rocky road ice cream is an ice cream flavor, second only to vanilla, chocolate, neopolitan. strawberry, cookies n' cream, chocolate chip, butter-pecan, chocolate mint, and vanilla and chocolate in popularity in the United States.

"A well-cared-for Jack Russell can live for over anywhere between 14-21 years."

The emporer taught his Dalmation to play the accordian.  The concensus was that it definately sounded aweful.