“Get lost” Means “Go away.”

Daily Prompt: No, Thank You

If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

Oh, goody. The Daily Prompt gave me a chance to vent about a word I hate. I hereby ban the verbs Get and Got! 

Why? People use “Get” and “Got” so often it’s ridiculous. Consider the following:

• I went to the store and got chips, pizza and sodas.
• She’s getting a new pair of shoes.
• I got to bed but couldn’t get to sleep.
• We will get up in the morning and get breakfast.
• Get me an order of fries.
• He got a pair of fives.
• Get lost.

How did you get chips, pizza and sodas? How did she get a pair of shoes? Whether bought, stole, or borrowed answers the question, use the more descriptive verb. Now, see my choices for some other sentences:

• I went to bed but couldn’t sleep.”
• When we wake up in the morning, we will go out for breakfast.
• Bring me an order of fries.

Now, let me tell you something. “He got a pair of fives” was extremely difficult to write without using has. This sentence sets off every grammar alarm I have! I  think “He has a pair of fives” is  just as easy to say and more understandable.

“Get lost” might be my one exception to the ban. I used it for part of a post title not too long ago. However, “Leave me alone” or “Go away” works just as well.

There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of uses for “get” and “got”, but you don’t usually see “gotten.” My guess is the people who use “Get” and “Got”, don’t want to waste the time it takes to say, “She has gotten a pair of shoes that didn’t fit.” Instead they would butcher it by saying, “She got a pair of shoes that didn’t fit.” Ow, my brain is going to explode. 

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“I’m fine” really means “Get lost.”

Daily Prompt: Morphing

by michelle w. on May 10, 2013

Language evolves. The meaning of a word can shift over time as we use it differently — think of “cool,” “heavy,” or even “literally.”

Today, give a word an evolutionary push: give a common word a new meaning, explain it to us, and use it in the title of your post.

Several words and an abbreviation or two went through my mind on this prompt, but most of them were already taken. Finally, I chose one of my made-up abbreviations. Within three sentences, I realized this abbreviation sounded too much like another, more X-rated word. So what to do?

I decided to go with “Lost” because I felt lost with this daily prompt. I looked up “Lost” only to find several pages about the television series. I then typed dictionary in my search box and beheld a few definitions that seemed to boring to mention. But, Urban Dictionary gave me this interesting thought:

I’m fine
	1. The more polite way to say “… get lost.”

It’s funny because “I’m fine” is your automated response to “How are you”? And don’t you agree it’s usually said so that the person asking the question will leave you alone? At the very least, you don’t want them to pry into your life.

Therefore, why not fully morph “I’m fine” into “get lost” or “go away” and put it in the Webster Dictionary as such.

If  we really want people to know how we feel, maybe we should buy stickers of different emoticons (now there’s a modern word) and put one or more of them on our bodies.

Here’s my idea: Put a happy face on your face and another sticker for how you really feel on your arm or anywhere it’s less noticeable. Then, only people that really care about you will look at you long enough to see the second sticker and you wouldn’t have to say, “I’m fine” when you really want a person to “Get lost.”

 

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Daily Prompt from May 7, 2013

Daily Prompt: Key Takeaway

by michelle w. on May 7, 2013

Give your newer sisters and brothers-in-WordPress one piece of advice based on your experiences blogging.

If you’re a new blogger, what’s one question you’d like to ask other bloggers?

(Make sure to visit one another’s posts today, to check ‘em out and respond!)

Yes, I know this is a day late. However, I find it intriguing enough to answer anyway. I am a fairly new blogger and I’m especially new on WordPress.

After roughly seven months on WordPress, I still have a lot of questions. But the two most important are below:

• How do you use the WordPress download?
• How can I send “Press This” articles to my main blog instead of the first one I started? (Can I copy the posts off the first one and then delete it?)

Okay, that’s technically three questions, but the last two are related.

Now, for those brand new bloggers out there, I have found answers to a couple of questions.

• Like a rainbow after a storm, you often find your “Voice” after writing several pieces you think are absolutely terrible. Write often — not necessarily every day, but aim for once a week — and publish your posts despite your fear of being laughed at or worse. Put your work “out there” so that someone else can see how you’ve developed. Most of the people at WordPress are friendly and encouraging — that’s why I stayed.

Planning everything accomplishes nothing.

Daily Prompt: Comfort Zone by michelle w. on March 15, 2013  What are you more comfortable with — routine and planning, or laissez-faire spontaneity?

As you may guess from my title, I used to plan everything! I’d make detailed agendas with every thirty minutes filled in. It was so over-the-top (read: obsessive) with “planning” that my husband would ask if I had to pencil in bathroom breaks.

That isn’t too terrible, you may think. But, I’m also a major perfectionist. I had to re-do my list, usually in longhand, until it was immaculate. I would literally spend all day making a one week schedule.

And, you know what? I never followed the “program” for more than one day, if that. Therefore I accomplished nothing! I had nothing to show for my planning, but an extremely detailed itinerary that usually went in the trash.

Therefore, I resolved to try to establish routines. Instead of a particular time for everything, I tried doing things in a certain order. Best of all, I allowed myself to not be as meticulous about it. Therefore, routines worked a lot better! I actually went to the gym 2-5 times per week. I wrote on two or more days per week and I felt a lot better about myself!

But, why is that in past tense? Because I stopped going to the gym twice a week and I stopped writing twice a week. I don’t know when that happened, but I need to go back to my routine. I can do a few things with spontaneity, but writing or going to the gym are not among them.

Therefore, my answer to the question from the Daily Prompt is this: I need a routine! I might be able to mix in a little spontaneity here and there, but I definitely would not call it “laissez-faire” because my routine has to come first!

 

Daily Prompt: Burning Down the House

Your home is on fire. Grab five items (assume all people and animals are safe). What did you grab?

Our apartment is on fire and I’m alone! Oh no, what can I do? I can’t save everything — maybe five items if I’m lucky. My cat was smart enough to rush out by himself, but what do I save?

First, I pick up my Writing Collection which is in a big plastic tub. To it, I add my file box which is also full of writing. Then I collect as many pictures and picture albums as I can and place them in the tub. Several items stuffed inside one item still makes one item — as long as I can carry it, right?

Then, I run back to the bedroom and disconnect my desktop computer. It has far too many files on its hard-drive to let it be destroyed! Once I have it outside, I disconnect my son’s computer and make sure it’s safe!

What else do I value? Oh, my genealogical research must be saved! Most of it isn’t on the computer’s hard-drive yet. I gather up all my papers, manila envelopes, and the wire-bound notebook I use for genealogy so I won’t have to start over on that.

A couple of fire trucks arrive and it’s only then I realize my neighbors are also rushing in and out of their apartments to save their valuables. I only have time to rescue one more thing before one of the firefighters tells us all to stay outside.

What have I missed? I can’t save the television because it’s too big! The DVR can be replaced easily enough, but I must choose between an exterior hard-drive, an X-box and a Wii. Gee whiz, I never realized I had so many valuables. Uh-oh, I forgot about my records! The other stuff can be replaced, but where would I find that many LP’s and 45’s? I pick up the container with our vinyl record collection and rush outside for the last time.

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My Playground

Today’s “Daily Prompt” ask you to write about “A place from your past or childhood, ….” My playground is my imagination and it’s not only functioning, but functioning well. It travels with me and it’s part of me.

My playground lets me imagine my surroundings the way I want them to be. Want a gorgeous five bedroom cabin in the mountains? Done. Want a trip to a non-existent city? Done. Want to change the house you grew up in? Done. Want a different body (most of us do)? Want to change your sex, height, skin color? It can all be done on my playground.

What is better than that? My playground lets me play the parts of different characters and decide if I want to include that piece in a story. An over-active imagination can give you and/or your “part” a hundred different things to say about the same situation. Sometimes it’s fun to try each one and decide if it fits with this particular character. Then you have to decide how the other characters would react. My closet, a floor lamp, and/or a set a shelves can instantly transform into the other “people” my person is talking to. Are they outraged? Do they argue? Do they obey an order without question? It all depends on their particular personality.

Writers are sometimes thought of as loners, or  eccentric or just plain crazy. If you were to see me “playing”, you would probably call the men with the funny white coats. But, it helps me think. It helps me decide what parts of my “play” fit into the story I’m working on. Some writers do this through “storyboards” or “mind-maps”, but I just use my playground which is basically a theater in my head and I make a Play out of my ideas.

My playground is old: It’s been around since fourth grade or before. But, it doesn’t rust; it never needs new equipment and if the grass needs mowed, I just “imagine” a character to do that too.