Monday, August 19, 2024
Sunday, August 18, 2024
Personal Stories
PERSONAL STORIES
Attitude With A Side Of Grr
Showing gratitude without completely being grateful.
Bravery
The story of an ill-advised road trip.
It Is What It Is
Journal-like writings during my father's fatal illness.
Memorial For Someone I Should Have Met
The unconventional way I went to a wake and felt weird about doing so.
My Tattoos
A rated-PG guide to the ink that's permanently on my body.
My Theory
What happened surrounding my mother's suicide.
Reflections On Vagabonding
Wishing I had done more during my 20+ months of aimlessness.
The Greaving Mother
An insane woman accused 12-year-old me of something awful.
The Most Meat-Heady Thing I've Ever Experienced
Unnecessary testosterone almost ruined a good time.
Turn The Paige
The unbearable obligation of talking to strangers.
Opinions & Rants
OPINIONS & RANTS
Analysis of a
Catholic church's ridiculous newsletter.
The world might be
more peaceful if people were not so confident.
What I think of your baby. But not really. Or something.
A simple sandwich just might represent peace.
A dramatic argument that going out to eat is awful.
Many ways in which a particular mammal is far superior to a certain
bird.
Why the world would benefit from cemeteries being eliminated.
Encouragement to think critically and look beyond what you are first told.
Lesser-known but disturbing tales from The Good Book.
A brief history of time (not that one) discussing how days and years
came to be and the silliness of Daylight Saving Time.
A fake advertisement for candles.
A bunch of sad realities and the introduction of Giffyblap.
An essay on evil people with a correlation to poop.
A simple expression and nice gesture lead to chaotic rage.
Factual Articles
FACTUAL ARTICLES
I strive for accuracy and always use at least 2-3 sources before adding something. If you spot an error, please comment at the bottom of the appropriate page.
A basic how-to attempting to clear up confusion.
Explanations of all its parts.
The origins of common holidays.
Basic information on some of the oldest schools in the United States.
Where we live, what surrounds us, and just how huge the Sun is.
Important and/or interesting facts about the American presidency, Electoral College, and each commander-in-chief.
Definitions and origins of common phrases and words.
Comparing and contrasting common things, such as frogs/toads, tsunamis/tidal waves, and religious denominations.
The fourteen ancient and modern architectural wonders of the world.
VIDEOS
Here are some videos I have been in and/or worked on. Enjoy!
Literal Pigskin Picks
For the 2019-20 NFL season, I made a series of increasingly silly videos picking winners based on the teams' names. It was accompanied by a since-removed tally of all picks. (Weeks 7 and 8 have gone missing for some reason.)
Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12, Week 13, Week 14, Week 15, Week 16, Week 17, Playoffs Week 1, Super Bowl
BONUS
2020 Mock Mock Draft
BONUS
2020 Mock Mock Draft
I Never Sausage A Hot Dog
My friend Mark loves hot dogs and I've filmed him discussing different styles and interviewing restaurant owners.
Random
A lonely man comes to terms with his inner rabbit.
A man dressed as Eeyore confronts an intruder.
A group of men wants a woman to lick the meat.
Some pictures of me looking lost while vagabonding, set to a song by The Beatles.
A guy runs around in a kilt, screams, and slaps people.
A guy runs around in a kilt, screams, and slaps people... but in a different location.
Parody of a scene from The Shining for a friend's brewery.
Poetry
Poetry
Know how most poetry is awful, especially when written during high school and college times? I don't claim that mine is an exception but maybe there's a line or two that is interesting. We'll see.
(Not to worry- I won't ever update this.)
Enjoy!
Sorrow & Things You Never Knew
Saturday, August 17, 2024
What Does That Mean?
What Does That Mean?
What is a gift horse? How can a fiddle be fit? Is a dead ringer the same as a spitting image?
Below are links to common expressions and words, their meanings, and their often-curious origins.
Many have been translated through the centuries and the original connotations
are disputed. Keeping that uncertainty in mind, I have chosen the most reasonable and/or interesting explanations.
To suggest more things, use the comments section below!
Current words/phrases: 343
***NEWEST ADDITIONS***
A penny for your thoughts
Meaning: This phrase is stated instead of asking what someone is thinking.
Origin: It is believed that Englishman Thomas More first used the phrase in a 1500s book. At that time, a penny was a significant amount of money, so offering it was an important gesture.
Asinine
Meaning: Very stupid.
Origin: This comes from a Latin word meaning ‘like a donkey or ass’.
Back to the drawing board
Meaning: The current plan has failed so a new one must be developed.
Origin: The first use of this phrase was in this 1941 cartoon by Peter Arno. It has been popularly used since World War Two.
Jay-walking
Meaning: Illegally crossing a street away from an intersection, though the act of doing it responsibly has been de-criminalized in some places, like California.
Origin: In the early 1900s, the slang word ‘jay’ was used for someone who was pretty much clueless. In this sense, the person could not figure out where to cross a road shortly after traffic lights became popular.
Put one’s two cents in
Meaning: Humbly give one’s opinion even though it wasn’t asked for.
Origin: As far back as the 1500s, declaring something was worth two pieces of any currency was insulting, meaning the thing did not have much value. One popular hypothesis as to how the phrase came into use dates to when postage stamps cost two cents, rendering that the price to give one’s opinion. The true root of the saying is unknown.
Safety net
Meaning: Something reliable to fall back on in case everything else goes wrong.
Origin: The somewhat obvious root of this phrase comes from the circus, specifically trapeze artists who had nets below them if a fall happened. The saying become popular (and non-circusy) with the 1944 creation of the Bretton Woods system, when delegates from 44 countries met in New Hampshire to make a new world-wide economic structure. To read about that, go here.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat
Meaning: Many paths can lead to the same outcome.
Origin: Hypotheses abound as to this violent phrase’s origin. One suggests ‘cat’ is a Southern American shortening of the word ‘catfish’. Another points to British writer Charles Kingsley, who wrote in the 1800s that ‘there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream’. Several sources claim American humorist Seba Smith first used it slightly earlier than Kingsley, though the reason why (if it exists) is unknown.
Author’s opinion: Killing a cat by any means is always acceptable.
Wall-flower
Meaning: A person at a social gathering who tends to observe the events rather than participating in them.
Origin: Curiously, the slang definition of this word comes from its actual meaning- A plant that grows best when away from others.
ain't, bought the farm, catch-22 + many others
don't look a gift horse in the mouth, et cetera, fifteen minutes of fame + many others
gas-lighting, happy as a clam, in a nutshell + many others
Jesus H. Christ, kick the bucket, loose lips sink ships + many others
mayday, neck of the wood, Oedipus complex + many others
pardon my French, quitting cold turkey, raining cats & dogs + many others
saved by the bell, the bee's knees, under the weather + many others
vice versa, wiggle room + some others
SOURCES
Google, The Phrase Finder, Mental Floss,
Etymonline, idiomorigins.org, Grammarist, Wikipedia.org, wordhistories.net, spellingbee.com,
Reader’s Digest, Take Our Word For It,
The Conversation,
Collins Dictionary, Inverse.com, HistoryNewsNetwork.org, VeryWellMind.com, Grammarphobia.com, Urban Dictionary, Say Why Do I, Greek Boston, GreekMythology.com, Insider.com, Snopes.com,
Almanac.com, US Dairy, WritingExplained.com, Bored Panda, The Hindu, U.S. Department Of Defense, Social Security Administration, MirandaRights.org,
USCourts.gov, Calemon Law
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