The Best New Altered Words
In the Washington Post’s annual Mensa Invitational, readers are invited to alter any word from the dictionary and create a new definition. These are this year’s winners:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
Spock, Kirk, and the Crew Get Stoned
I couldn’t resist passing this along. I tried. Really, I did. But…Spock meets Grace Slick?
I justified it (to myself at least) on the basis of having a category called “silliness.” As Jeff Goldblum’s character in The Big Chill says, “I don’t know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations.”
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The Parrot And The Gypsy Girl
The Scout called home yesterday afternoon and asked me to go to the mailbox to check for a package that was overdue. With phone in hand I went to the front door, opened it, and The Scout claims my next words were, “Holy shit! You are not going to believe what is on our doormat.” I’m not 100% certain that those were my exact words, but it does seem likely.
“What is it?,” she asked.
“A parrot.”
“A parrot?”
“Yes. A parrot. I’ll call you back.”
“Take a picture,” she said just before I hung up.
Applying The Law Of Silliness
In the previous post I provided a rationale and suggested a guideline for how much any person should indulge in silliness. On reflection I want to elevate that guideline from the status of a “suggestion” to that of a “law.” Like the Law of Thermodynamics, or the Law of Unintended Consequences, or the newest rage among laws, the Law of Attraction. I’m tempted to call it “Richards’ Law” in the hope that the name will catch on and forever tie me to this important principle (like Murphy), but I’ll be happy enough to let go of that presumption if the law becomes famous and does some good.
The Limits of Silliness
Everything has limits. Too much? Too little? Too big? Too small?
Last March I posted a bit of silliness, wrote that “silliness is under-rated,” and then suggested in a comment to a follow-up post that many of us who plow the field of self-development take ourselves far too seriously.
For those who might be silliness-challenged or who worry that their silliness-quotient is too high or too low (especially in the self-development field), here are descriptions of the limits.
The All-Time Worst Novelist
Her name was Amanda McKittrick Ros, and she is the subject of a not-to-be-missed article by Miles Corwin in the June 2009 Smithsonian Magazine. Corwin wrote,
The Oxford literary group “The Inklings,” which included C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, held competitions to see who could read her work aloud longest while keeping a straight face.
Read Corwin’s article HERE
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Doing My Part As A Bad Example
A former colleague told me, “Every person has a purpose. For some that purpose is to serve as a bad example.”
I laughed when I first heard that, but it does have the ring of truth about it as I cannot imagine life without bad examples. Someone, it seems, must at all times bring the mythic energy of bad-example-hood to life.
Fortunately, many who have studied and written about life purpose (including me HERE) have observed that people’s purposes can and most likely will change from time to time during their lives. It is unlikely that most of us are doomed to a entire life of bad-example-hood.
“Let It Go! Let It Go! Let It Go!” Tops Chart, Saves Woman’s Job!
A mere thirty-six hours after the release of Let It Go! Let It Go! Let It Go!, the song reached #1 on my StatCounter list of Most Popular Pages at this blog. Okay, so it’s not Billboard. But it means something, right?
Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive:
“cheery”
“awesome”
“just what I needed”
“cheaper than psychotherapy”
“absolutely fabulous”
“very fun”
And this in an email: “Oh man, do you have perfect timing. Was ready to quit my job this morning.”
See…I told you…silliness is under-rated.
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INTERVIEWER: So Dick, has your life changed since your hit single.
