Breaking radio silence

Hello, friends! How have you been?

I've decided to break my silence to share some linguistic tics I've been noticing around the innerwebz lately. What surprises me is this: rather than bugging me, they make me laugh.

Here's one: shortening the word "feelings" to "feels," then using that in a sentence.

Example: We went to our son's high school orientation a few weeks ago. The experience brought up a lot for me--pride that he's been doing so well in school, worry that he'll get lost in the labyrinthine building and be picked on by older kids, amazement that he's getting so tall and growing more independent, annoyance at his unwillingness to let us help him figure things out, sadness that he's not my baby anymore...

Using this new linguistic pattern, I might shorten all of that to the following statement on FB or Twitter: "We went to the Boy's high school orientation night tonight. I am having all of the feels."

Ha!

(Our dear goofball at Science Fair a couple months ago.)

Here's another linguistic tic: using the pattern "Because [noun]"; in this case, the noun serves as the reason why you would do something that might not be... completely rational. And it works really well when this phrase is set off as its own sentence. One hundred percent grammatically incorrect! But funny!

The Bloggess provided an awesome version of this structure in a recent post that included a discussion of the phrase "because wine." (Go ahead, take a look; I'll wait for you back here. Be careful not to have any food or drink in your mouth when you read her blog--dude, that stuff might end up on your screen. To be fair, the "because wine" post takes a turn into a less funny/more difficult subject... but take a look at this other post. I had to read it out loud to Patrick the other day because he wanted to know what I was guffawing about at the breakfast table.)

I have also been thinking about knitting-related phrases that fit this pattern. For example: "Yeah, it's 80 degrees outside but I decided to cast on for these wool hand-warmers. Because malabrigo." Or "I have three unfinished lace projects on the needles but I need something easier, maybe in garter stitch. Because Game of Thrones."

(Last year I made these for my friend Mary. 

And gave them to her in July.)

Now, these are fairly specialized, so if you're not of the knitterly persuasion they might not speak to you. (And I haven't actually seen GoT, but I hear it's all the rage.) Here's a non-knitting example: "I was supposed to finish that report by Wednesday, but I decided to extend my deadline to Friday. Because naps."

Or: "I was so busy I stopped exercising and put on some weight, but now that it's summer I decided to get back into my routine. Because prancercise." (If you've already seen the original prancercise video, check out this rendition of Urban Prancercize by R. Vincent Moniz, Jr., and Jonathan Thunder. It is sublime.)

In other news, life has been handing me a platter piled high with events both wonderful and sad. The wonderful: Last week I went on a trip to Quebec as a chaperon for the Boy's 8th grade French class; it was great! (I hope to share some of that here soon.)

(Here's one of the photos I took in Quebec... 

more soon, I hope!)

Even more wonderful: In May, I went on a trip to Rosebud, Minneapolis, and Chicago with students from my "Reading Native American Literature" class. (That was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my career, my goodness. I'm writing about it in several ways and hope to share some of that here.)

(Here's a photo of me in the Badlands, 

taken by one of my students.)

The sad: in April, my friend Julie died. In May, my friend Sherry died. Last week, my friend / teacher / beloved elder Albert White Hat, Sr., died. On a daily basis, I find myself mourning them and wondering how the rest of us can go on without these people on the planet. At the same time, I know that we have to go on  because of what they meant and did and made possible with their lives. I am grieving. It's a process, and not an easy one. (I may or may not share some of that with you here... we'll see what feels right.)

I hope your summer has started well. Keep your chin up, and I'll do the same. At least the innerwebz provides a few LOLs now and then, eh?

Cheers,
Karen

P.S. Does anybody else have a Thomas Dolby earworm now?