I bought my grown son a Tommy Hilfiger shirt at Macy's for his birthday. I brought it home, wrapped it in tissue paper and placed it in a Happy Birthday bag with a birthday card and a check. Son opened his present held it up to himself and pronounced it fine and dandy.
Then yesterday he called and asked if I had the receipt for the shirt. He had just discovered as he prepared to wear the shirt that hidden down underneath the collar was the security tag which cannot be removed except in the store itself. I could not find the receipt so I told him I would return the shirt for him. And besides, who wants to fool with returning your own birthday gift.
So I drove out to Macy's after picking up the shirt at son's house which was on the way. All went well; no security bells rang as I went into Macy's with the shirt. A clerk in the men's store removed the tag after which she reluctantly said "sorry about that"
What I don't get is why a polo type shirt that cost less than $50.00 requires a security tag in the first place. I can understand having those tags on expensive items like designer sunglasses or purses and high end women's fashions but a cotton shirt? To use the old cliche "Give me a break"
Anyway that was my "little annoyance" for this week.
What "little annoyance" have you experienced recently?
PS: I Googled "securiy tags" and found this info(click title above) about do it yourself removal of tags. I would not try this method but it is interesting to read.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
BLOG QUILT
I visited Joy's blog "Joy of Six" and had a real funny senior moment when I read the title of her recent post "BLOG GUILT" that I want to share with you.
My comment on "Joy Of six"
"Talk about tired and stressed, when I clicked on your site just then and read the title of this entry(without my glasses on)...I read "BLOG QUILT" and I thought, Oh my what a neat idea, Joy has an idea for a "QUILT" that will weave many blog sites together into one beautiful whole...into a "BLOG QUILT"
Perhaps I am in the last stages of some rare blog disease or maybe my misreading the title of your post was because I just finished an interesting book"The Art Of Mending" by Elizabeth Berg. The main character in the story is Laura who is an accomplished quilter.
Anyway...do NOT feel blog guilt..instead just wrap yourself in this beautiful imaginary BLOG QUILT and go enjoy your family."
Click on the above title and go read Joy's post about "BLOG GUILT"
>
My comment on "Joy Of six"
"Talk about tired and stressed, when I clicked on your site just then and read the title of this entry(without my glasses on)...I read "BLOG QUILT" and I thought, Oh my what a neat idea, Joy has an idea for a "QUILT" that will weave many blog sites together into one beautiful whole...into a "BLOG QUILT"
Perhaps I am in the last stages of some rare blog disease or maybe my misreading the title of your post was because I just finished an interesting book"The Art Of Mending" by Elizabeth Berg. The main character in the story is Laura who is an accomplished quilter.
Anyway...do NOT feel blog guilt..instead just wrap yourself in this beautiful imaginary BLOG QUILT and go enjoy your family."
Click on the above title and go read Joy's post about "BLOG GUILT"
>
Saturday, March 17, 2007
HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY
Irish blessings for you
"For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day."
"May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go."
"Dance as if no one were watching,
Sing as if no one were listening,
And live everyday as if it were your last."
"For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day."
"May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go."
"Dance as if no one were watching,
Sing as if no one were listening,
And live everyday as if it were your last."
Saturday, March 10, 2007
That's Not Nice
Since I was incensed by the recent comments of both Ann Coulter and Bill Maher I was interested to read this column in today's Wall Street Journal by Peggy Noonan discussing the lack of civility in our present political discourse. In my opinion it is one of her best.
And besides Peggy Noonan has some kind words for grandmothers.
(Actually, it was your grandmother who said "That's not nice." She's the one who probably taught you the wince. It is her wisdom, encapsulated in those three simple words, that is missing from the current debate.)
You can read it by clicking on the link above which will take you to "Opinion Journal"
But to save you the trouble here it is below.
"Our political discourse needs less censorship and more self-discipline.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Here is what has been said the past week or so that sparked argument: Bill Maher, on HBO, said a lot of lives would be saved if Vice President Cheney had died, and Ann Coulter, at a conservative political meeting, suggested John Edwards is a "faggot."
She was trying to be funny and get a laugh. He was trying to startle and get applause.
What followed was the predictable kabuki in which politically active groups and individuals feigned dismay as opposed to what many of them really felt, which was grim delight. Conservatives said they were chilled by Mr. Maher's comments, but I don't think they were. They were delighted he revealed what they believe is at the heart of modern liberalism, which is hate.
Liberals amused themselves making believe they were chilled by Ms. Coulter's remarks, but they were not. They were delighted she has revealed what they believe is at the heart of modern conservatism, which is hate.
The truth is many liberals were dismayed by Mr. Maher because he made them look bad, and many conservatives were mad at Ms. Coulter for the same reason.
I realized as I watched it all play out that there's a kind of simple way to know whether something you just heard is something that should not have been said. It is: Did it make you wince? When the Winceometer is triggered, it's an excellent indication that what you just heard is unfortunate and ought not to be repeated.
In both cases, Mr. Maher and Ms. Coulter, when I heard them, I winced. Did you? I thought so. In modern life we wince a lot. It's not the worst thing, but it's better when something makes you smile.
One of the clearest statements ever about the implied limits of legitimate political discourse was made by the imprisoned Socrates in his first dialogue with Crito, when he said, "That's not nice." Actually, it was your grandmother who said "That's not nice." She's the one who probably taught you the wince. It is her wisdom, encapsulated in those three simple words, that is missing from the current debate.
We tie ourselves in knots trying to explain why it is, or why it isn't, always or occasionally, helpful or destructive to use various epithets, or give full voice to our resentments. But the simple wisdom of Grandma-- "That's not nice"--is a good guide. (I should say that when I was a kid, grandmas were older people who had common sense. They had observed something of people, had experienced life directly, not only through books or TV. Almost all of them had religious faith, and had absorbed the teachings of the Bible. Almost all of them sat quietly at the kitchen table, and even when I was a kid they were considered old fashioned. They were often ethnic and had accents. As a matter of fact, all of them were.)
I think that as America has grown more academic or aware of education, the wisdom of Grandma has been denigrated. Or ignored. Or stolen and dressed up as something else. For instance, Rudy Giuliani's success in cleaning up and reviving the city of New York is generally attributed to his embrace of what is called, in academic circles, the broken-window theory. It holds that when criminals see that even small infractions are met and punished, they will understand that larger infractions will be met and punished. It also holds that when neighborhoods deteriorate, criminals are emboldened. People from Harvard won great prizes for these insights.
But all of broken-windows theory comes down to what Grandma always knew and said: "Fix the window or they'll think no one cares! When people think no one cares, they do whatever they want." There was not a single grandmother in America circa 1750-2007 who didn't know this. But no one wants to quote Grandma. She's so yesterday. And her simple teachings have been superseded by more exotic forms of instruction.
Fifty years ago, no one speaking at a respected political gathering would say, would even think of saying that Adlai Stevenson is a faggot. Nor would Arthur Godfrey or Jack Paar have declared on their television shows that we'd be better off if Eisenhower died. Is our discourse deteriorating? Yes, it is.
Part of the reason is that Grandma had more sway in the public sphere 50 years ago, which is to say common sense and a sense of decorum had more sway. Another part is that privately people felt they had more room to think or say whatever they wanted without being shamed or shunned. It let the steam out. We think of the 1950s as buttoned up, but in a way America had more give then. Men were understood not to be angels.
Our country now puts less of an emphasis on public decorum, courtliness, self-discipline, decency. America no longer says, "That's not nice." It doesn't want to make value judgments on "good" and "bad." We have come to rely on censorship to maintain decorum. We are very good at letting people know that if they say something we don't like, we'll shame them and shun them, even ruin them.
But censorship doesn't make people improve themselves; it makes people want to rebel. It tells them to toe the line or pay a price. People who are urged in the right direction and taught in the right direction will usually try to discipline and improve themselves from within. But they do not enjoy censorship from without. They fight back. They are rude in order to show they are unbroken.
This is human. And Grandma would have understood this, too.
I think the atmosphere of political correctness is now experienced by normal people--not people who speak on TV, but normal people--as so oppressive, so demanding of constant self-policing, that when someone says something in public that is truly not nice, not nice at all, they can't help but feel that they are witnessing a prison break.
As long as political correctness reigns, the more antic among us will try to break out with great streams of Tourette's-like forbidden words and ideas.
We should forbid less and demand more. We should exert less pressure from without and encourage more discipline from within. We should ask people to be dignified, hope they'll be generous, expect them to be fair. When they're not, we should correct them. But we shouldn't beat them to a pulp. Because that's not nice."
Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father" (Penguin, 2005), which you can order from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Fridays on OpinionJournal.com.
And besides Peggy Noonan has some kind words for grandmothers.
(Actually, it was your grandmother who said "That's not nice." She's the one who probably taught you the wince. It is her wisdom, encapsulated in those three simple words, that is missing from the current debate.)
You can read it by clicking on the link above which will take you to "Opinion Journal"
But to save you the trouble here it is below.
"Our political discourse needs less censorship and more self-discipline.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Here is what has been said the past week or so that sparked argument: Bill Maher, on HBO, said a lot of lives would be saved if Vice President Cheney had died, and Ann Coulter, at a conservative political meeting, suggested John Edwards is a "faggot."
She was trying to be funny and get a laugh. He was trying to startle and get applause.
What followed was the predictable kabuki in which politically active groups and individuals feigned dismay as opposed to what many of them really felt, which was grim delight. Conservatives said they were chilled by Mr. Maher's comments, but I don't think they were. They were delighted he revealed what they believe is at the heart of modern liberalism, which is hate.
Liberals amused themselves making believe they were chilled by Ms. Coulter's remarks, but they were not. They were delighted she has revealed what they believe is at the heart of modern conservatism, which is hate.
The truth is many liberals were dismayed by Mr. Maher because he made them look bad, and many conservatives were mad at Ms. Coulter for the same reason.
I realized as I watched it all play out that there's a kind of simple way to know whether something you just heard is something that should not have been said. It is: Did it make you wince? When the Winceometer is triggered, it's an excellent indication that what you just heard is unfortunate and ought not to be repeated.
In both cases, Mr. Maher and Ms. Coulter, when I heard them, I winced. Did you? I thought so. In modern life we wince a lot. It's not the worst thing, but it's better when something makes you smile.
One of the clearest statements ever about the implied limits of legitimate political discourse was made by the imprisoned Socrates in his first dialogue with Crito, when he said, "That's not nice." Actually, it was your grandmother who said "That's not nice." She's the one who probably taught you the wince. It is her wisdom, encapsulated in those three simple words, that is missing from the current debate.
We tie ourselves in knots trying to explain why it is, or why it isn't, always or occasionally, helpful or destructive to use various epithets, or give full voice to our resentments. But the simple wisdom of Grandma-- "That's not nice"--is a good guide. (I should say that when I was a kid, grandmas were older people who had common sense. They had observed something of people, had experienced life directly, not only through books or TV. Almost all of them had religious faith, and had absorbed the teachings of the Bible. Almost all of them sat quietly at the kitchen table, and even when I was a kid they were considered old fashioned. They were often ethnic and had accents. As a matter of fact, all of them were.)
I think that as America has grown more academic or aware of education, the wisdom of Grandma has been denigrated. Or ignored. Or stolen and dressed up as something else. For instance, Rudy Giuliani's success in cleaning up and reviving the city of New York is generally attributed to his embrace of what is called, in academic circles, the broken-window theory. It holds that when criminals see that even small infractions are met and punished, they will understand that larger infractions will be met and punished. It also holds that when neighborhoods deteriorate, criminals are emboldened. People from Harvard won great prizes for these insights.
But all of broken-windows theory comes down to what Grandma always knew and said: "Fix the window or they'll think no one cares! When people think no one cares, they do whatever they want." There was not a single grandmother in America circa 1750-2007 who didn't know this. But no one wants to quote Grandma. She's so yesterday. And her simple teachings have been superseded by more exotic forms of instruction.
Fifty years ago, no one speaking at a respected political gathering would say, would even think of saying that Adlai Stevenson is a faggot. Nor would Arthur Godfrey or Jack Paar have declared on their television shows that we'd be better off if Eisenhower died. Is our discourse deteriorating? Yes, it is.
Part of the reason is that Grandma had more sway in the public sphere 50 years ago, which is to say common sense and a sense of decorum had more sway. Another part is that privately people felt they had more room to think or say whatever they wanted without being shamed or shunned. It let the steam out. We think of the 1950s as buttoned up, but in a way America had more give then. Men were understood not to be angels.
Our country now puts less of an emphasis on public decorum, courtliness, self-discipline, decency. America no longer says, "That's not nice." It doesn't want to make value judgments on "good" and "bad." We have come to rely on censorship to maintain decorum. We are very good at letting people know that if they say something we don't like, we'll shame them and shun them, even ruin them.
But censorship doesn't make people improve themselves; it makes people want to rebel. It tells them to toe the line or pay a price. People who are urged in the right direction and taught in the right direction will usually try to discipline and improve themselves from within. But they do not enjoy censorship from without. They fight back. They are rude in order to show they are unbroken.
This is human. And Grandma would have understood this, too.
I think the atmosphere of political correctness is now experienced by normal people--not people who speak on TV, but normal people--as so oppressive, so demanding of constant self-policing, that when someone says something in public that is truly not nice, not nice at all, they can't help but feel that they are witnessing a prison break.
As long as political correctness reigns, the more antic among us will try to break out with great streams of Tourette's-like forbidden words and ideas.
We should forbid less and demand more. We should exert less pressure from without and encourage more discipline from within. We should ask people to be dignified, hope they'll be generous, expect them to be fair. When they're not, we should correct them. But we shouldn't beat them to a pulp. Because that's not nice."
Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father" (Penguin, 2005), which you can order from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Fridays on OpinionJournal.com.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Word A Day
I took two years of Latin in the seventh and eighth grades and about all I can remember is how to sing "Popeye the Sailor Man" in Latin.:) Some acheivement huh? At least my grandchildren are entertained by my "talent"
Latin does help with the understanding of other romance languages and with the grasp of word meanings as "Word A Day" points out below.
Did you take Latin in school?
I have posted previously about "Word A Day" but it has been some time ago and perhaps some of you missed it. This is an interesting free email service for those of us who love language and learning "new" words in a fun way.
Click on the link above and go to the site to sign up. You will enjoy it.
Here is a sample: today's email "Word A Day"
"According to a story, probably apocryphal, former US Vice President
Dan Quayle once said, "I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and
the only regret I have is that I didn't study Latin harder in school
so I could converse with those people."
Latin is a dead language. No people speak it as their everyday language.
The area south of the US is called Latin America because most of the
people down there speak Spanish or Portuguese, both derived from Latin.
Latin took its name from Latium, a region in ancient Italy. Various
dialects of Latin eventually blossomed into the Romance languages: French,
Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish, while Latin itself faded away.
Fortunately, you don't have to travel to Latin America to use this
week's terms from Latin. They have been borrowed into English and are
now part of the language."
de novo (day NO-vo) adverb
Anew; from the beginning.
[From Latin de novo (from new).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=de+novo
-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
"Living things were not created de novo, but evolved."
David P. Barash; Does God Have Back Problems Too?;
Los Angeles Times; Jun 27, 2005.
Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you're not
really interested in order to get where you're going. -Christopher Morley,
writer (1890-1957)
Discuss this week's words on our bulletin board: http://wordsmith.org/board
Remove, change address, gift subs: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html
Latin does help with the understanding of other romance languages and with the grasp of word meanings as "Word A Day" points out below.
Did you take Latin in school?
I have posted previously about "Word A Day" but it has been some time ago and perhaps some of you missed it. This is an interesting free email service for those of us who love language and learning "new" words in a fun way.
Click on the link above and go to the site to sign up. You will enjoy it.
Here is a sample: today's email "Word A Day"
"According to a story, probably apocryphal, former US Vice President
Dan Quayle once said, "I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and
the only regret I have is that I didn't study Latin harder in school
so I could converse with those people."
Latin is a dead language. No people speak it as their everyday language.
The area south of the US is called Latin America because most of the
people down there speak Spanish or Portuguese, both derived from Latin.
Latin took its name from Latium, a region in ancient Italy. Various
dialects of Latin eventually blossomed into the Romance languages: French,
Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish, while Latin itself faded away.
Fortunately, you don't have to travel to Latin America to use this
week's terms from Latin. They have been borrowed into English and are
now part of the language."
de novo (day NO-vo) adverb
Anew; from the beginning.
[From Latin de novo (from new).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=de+novo
-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
"Living things were not created de novo, but evolved."
David P. Barash; Does God Have Back Problems Too?;
Los Angeles Times; Jun 27, 2005.
Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you're not
really interested in order to get where you're going. -Christopher Morley,
writer (1890-1957)
Discuss this week's words on our bulletin board: http://wordsmith.org/board
Remove, change address, gift subs: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html
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