an exercise in percussive maintenance
Category: A Bit Of Silliness
“…and worth far more than diamonds.” (Proverbs 31:10, The Message)
No, we’re not interrupting regular programming for discussing passages from the Bible. I’ve just been thinking about that passage as I appear to have one of those. A good woman, that is. In fact, King Solomon goes on to say, “She shops around for the best yarns and cottons, and enjoys knitting and sewing.” (Proverbs 31:13, The Message) That’s my wife exactly.
Confused? Allow me to elaborate:
I blinked, and suddenly we’re at the end of October. I’ve no idea how this happened. Wait, I do. I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time at the school again. It seems even though I’ve been gone for almost two years now, I still know more about what goes on there than anyone else. At first it was gratifying to know I’m still needed, but it’s reaching the point where I’m starting to wish they’d learn to figure stuff for themselves. I suppose I could have left them detailed written instructions and made sure all the curriculum and policy documents were available and easily accessible from a central location in both printed and digital format…oh, wait…I did!
Every time I visit the school I’m just strengthened in my resolve to not go back to my old job. But I’ll do a proper rant about that later.
Because just now I need to focus on NaNoWriMo, which is a mere seven hours away in my time zone. I’m nowhere near done outlining for the new novel, but at least I already have a brief synopsis. Go give it a read, why don’t ya!
Ahoy there ye lily-livered, yellow-bellied landlubbers! It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. To celebrate, I’ve laid aside me hammer and me cutlass and took up the weapon said ter be mightier than either and penned ye a tale of a pirate lass with a heart so black, ole’ Blackbeard himself was afeared o’ her.
It’s time again for Percussive Etymology (now sporting its very own header, courtesy of the wife). In this fortnightly feature my trusty hammer and I will explore the origins of one of the many quirky phrases contained in the English language.
The continued positive response to this feature truly warms my heart. Following the brass monkey shenanigans I have been inundated with suggestions of other phrases to mutilate explain, and even a specific request to once more debunk a popular fallacy regarding the origins of a particular expression. While mythbusting was not part of my initial plan for this feature, I acknowledge that I can provide a valuable service to the linguistic sciences by making this small addition.
In that vein we will today address the expression “rule of thumb”, suggested by Misha Burnett. (By the way, Misha recently published the final instalment in his Book of Lost Doors trilogy, The Worms of Heaven. Why don’t you stop by his blog and give it a look?)
It’s time for the second instalment of Percussive Etymology. In this fortnightly feature my trusty hammer and I will explore the origins of one of the many quirky phrases contained in the English language.
After the resounding success of my post on “gumming up the works” it’s a bit intimidating to write another one of these. What if people don’t like it as much? What if I get no comments at all? What if I unwittingly offend my readers and they all unfollow this blog at once? (Do bestselling authors live with this pressure each time they submit a new novel to their publishers?)
However, let no man person call me a coward. Today’s phrase (and pardon the French), “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”. Thanks to Matthew Wright for the suggestion.
(By the way, the best part of today’s post is at the very end, below the line.)
Continue reading “Percussive Etymology – Cold enough to freeze something off a brass monkey”
if all else fails...use a hammer 