Pragmatwisted's Xanga

What is your definition of a real friend?

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:26:15 GMT

I'll borrow a good line I saw on a catalog item: A good friend will come and bail you out of jail…but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, “Damn…that was fun!”

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Animal Metaphors, Euphemisms, and Clichés

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:44:42 GMT

I little while ago, I caught a program on the Animal Planet™ channel called “Natural Born Sinners” in which they presented the seven deadly sins and the creatures on the planet most likely to win the “sinner” award. I missed the first part so I don’t know who they picked for rage (aggression/anger) but I did catch these associations:

· Gluttony – the Komodo dragon -- it has a voracious appetite once its victim dies of the nasty stuff from its saliva (when it selected, then bit the prospective prey).

· Envy – it was some kind of bird – I think it might have been one of the boobies that kills it’s sibling as soon as it can so that it gets all of the food that its parents provide. They also mentioned the fetus of some sharks eats sibling embryos as soon as it’s big enough so it alone gets the resources of its mother.

· Pride (vanity) – of the peacock.

· Lust – just about all animal species – however, they specifically gave the honor of lustiest to the Bonobo chimpanzee with a very elaborate sexual social behavior.

· Greed – just about any of the male species since many seek to assure the survival of their genes by gathering a harem. However, they specifically sited the “beach master” elephant seals since there can be a colony of 1000 seals on the beach but only 30 males that breed with the females.

· Laziness (sloth) – no contest here, it was the 3-toed sloth. However, they did mention other animals that nap/sleep most of their day such as the gorilla and lions (to conserve energy for the task of food-finding).

It was all very interesting. However, somewhere during the show, I started thinking about how humans have observed animals over the years and created metaphors, euphemisms, and clichés involving animals such as:

Canine
day of the dog	dog-eat-dog	dog day afternoon	wolf down food
crafty as a fox	wily as a coyote	hungry like the wolf	travelling in a wolf pack
puppy love	big dog	hot dog	hounds of Hell
Feline
curious as a cat	catnap	cute (cuddly) as a kitten	cat-o’-nine-tails
top cat
Equine (and other hoofed animals)
hungry as a horse	I could eat a horse.	stubborn as a mule	I know where your goat is tied.
Winged Critters
proud as a peacock	bats in the belfry	blind as a bat	parroting (someone)
plucky as a duck (or hen)
Slimy Things
sneaky as a snake	slippery as an eel	slinky as a snake
Insects
busy as a bee	pesky as a fly (or gnat or mosquito)	Wish I was a fly on the wall.	flypaper
stuck like flies in flypaper	spelling bee
Miscellaneous Critters
busy as a beaver	I have a whale of an appetite.	quiet as a mouse	peaceful as a lamb
prickly as a porcupine	monkeying around	aping his/her behavior	playing ‘possum

Adjectives & Pejoratives
foxy	crabby	catty	ratty
mousey	loony	clammy	dog-faced
cocky	jackass (he is a)	bullish	bearish
ducky	barracuda (he/she is a)	eagle-eyed

These are all the ones I thought off of the top of my head. Can you think of any?

Bioluminescence

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:10:05 GMT

Sometime within the last 6 or 7 years, I've developed a liking for sparkly things -- especially jewelry. Now you might be thinking that "Hey, she's a woman. They all like stuff that sparkles!" Well, that's not always been the case with me. When I started my career some 28 years ago, my jewelry was conservative, office approved and cost conscious.

Something happened and I started buying jewelry with colored stones (not diamonds because the clear stone is too boring). I started accessorizing my outfits with different sets of jewelry. I no longer wear the same standards day in and day out. I've developed a love for just about anything twinkly. It started with jewelry and now my purses and clothes are embellished. When I adopted a little black kitten from the Humane Society that had been dubbed "Spookie," I promptly changed her name to "Sparkle."

Then, while watching a TV program about the deep blue sea and the creatures at the very bottom, it hit me -- bioluminescence! There are sea-dwelling critters that are able to glow in the dark, sparkle and twinkle all by themselves through a process called bioluminescence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence). I guess that, secretly, I envy their natural ability to make themselves interesting to other underwater beings. Adorning myself with sparkly things is my way of mimicking their behavior. All along, I thought my sudden interest in sparkly things signified the onset of some kind of obscure dementia. Now that I've ruled that out (or have I?), I can forge ahead with my sparkly self -- I'll call my accessory shopping "bioluminescent acquisition" and be darn happy about it!

Why do people tend to care so much about celebrities?

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:18:20 GMT

Celebrity lives are like train wrecks...and you know what they say about people being able to look away from a train wreck.

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Choices, choices, choices -- blogrings that is.

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:23:36 GMT

Since I'm a newbie to Xanga, I thought I would check out the Blogrings and see where I could contribute. Since I love to collect quotes (humorous & philosophical), I joined a quote group. And because I'm a wild girl from Texas, I also joined a Texas group. Now I just need to traipse through my sometimes befuddled brain and pick out some relevant material.

My First Post

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:07:21 GMT

Hello everyone! This is my first foray into the blogging world! I'm what you might call a "watcher." I watch new technologies as they evolve and see if it's something that I'm game to try. I haven't quite decided what direction I want to take with my entries but I'm sure it will come to me. First things first...I have to get my account all set up and ready to go. Check back later for, at the very least, an amusing post.