Word Origins

Herb told me the origins of a common phrase in our household, ZEEZER CHONKING, which doesn't seem to have any alternative in common usage--at least nothing quite so descriptive.

When Herb was a boy, his friend Bob Wallace had a short nosed dog named Queenie, and Herb had Angel, a samoyed. One day when Bob was over, Angel was biting at fleas and Bob said, "She's chonking." Herb said, "No she's not, she's zeezering." Queenie chonked because she had a short muzzle more inclined to "chonk, chonk, chonk", and Angel zeezered because she had a longer muzzle that went "zeezerzeezerzeezer." Thus, the words were combined to describe the act of a dog zeezering or chonking with their teeth to get after fleas.

David Boies on Prop 8 ruling by Federal Judge Vaughn Walker

"It's easy to sit around and debate and throw around opinions, appeal to people's fear and prejudice, cite studies that either don't exist or don't say what you say they do. In a court of law you've got to come in and you've got to support those opinions. You've got to stand up under oath and cross-examination. . . . When they come into court and they have to support those opinions and they have to defend those opinions under oath and cross-examination, those opinions just melt away. And that's what happened here. There simply wasn't any evidence, there weren't any of those studies. There weren't any empirical studies. That's just made up. That's junk science. It's easy to say that on television, but a witness stand is a lonely place to lie. When you come into court you can't do that. And that's what we proved. We put fear and prejudice on trial, and fear and prejudice lost." --David Boies (August 8, 2010)

Sassy Gay Friend

Everybody needs a sensible friend.

Sam! Call me right away back!

Who left this message on my answering machine?

http://www.archive.org/details/SamCallMeRightAwayBack

Ten things about the naughts I am happy to say goodbye to:

1. George W. Bush
2. Dick Cheney
3. September 11, 2001
4. The Iraq "War"
5. The tsunami
6. Hurricane Katrina
7. The economy
8. Gore v. Bush
9. Ignoring climate change
10. No Child Left Behind

. . . that's just for starters.

UPDATE: Uh oh. Maybe I said goodbye too soon. #2: won't go away; #4: still here; #9: still waiting; #10: RTTP (Race to the Top) might be worse.