I read on Jalopnik that one of today's very common words was coined and first used by the Dodge Motor Company as an advertising hook.
Dependability.
They took an adjective, dependable, and turned it into a noun for an ad campaign in 1914 or thereabouts, and by 1930 the word had made it into the dictionaries.
Now that kind of word morphing happens all the time (cf. "I googled it") but t'wasn't always so. And it surprised me that a word as common as dependability got made up by an ad guy.
I have a friend who just renamed her blog, I'm Overthinking It, but it took her a week to decide.
I read an article on Time.com about a study showing that using "war metaphors" with those who get cancer can be counterproductive. Describing it as a battle, a fight, referring to cancer as the enemy - all those make some people less inclined to take advantage of the treatment methods available to them. Some people are turned off by the aggressive tone of those metaphors and others have a history of losing (think dodge ball) and therefore approach treatment with the expectation of losing.
OK. I suppose. But sometimes I think we've gotten so sensitive about language that we have trouble just talking. We have to be so careful not to say something politically incorrect or otherwise offensive that easy conversation becomes work.
Yes, we should be attentive to what we say and how. Respect others. And we should keep up with the way language changes over time. Words that were perfectly acceptable when I was young are now verboten. We had a retarded kid in our 5th grade Sunday School class. Now Gale would be....??? I recently learned there aren't any more draftsmen; they're draftpersons.
NOTICE: in any conversation with me, don't worry about it. I've been called almost everything, in anger and jest. I know I have a) a big schnoz, b) ADD, c) a driven personality, d) a natural clumsiness, e) an aversion to [what I perceive as] kitsch...... (We could go on.) So anything you say won't come as a surprise or tell me anything about myself I don't probably already know. And I value easy conversation too much to want you to circumscribe whatever you're inclined to say.
As Joan Rivers used to say, "Can we (just) talk?"
Yesterday's Second Breakfast conversation (see last night's post) was a blessing in large part because we talked about significant, personal stuff in a completely unguarded way. No fear of saying the wrong thing, or the right thing in the wrong way. That's altogether too rare these days when so much care has to be taken lest we cross some line of propriety.
In fact, that's one of the things I especially enjoy about our family gatherings. If you heard the repartee that sometimes goes on, the back and forth barbs between us, you'd either figure we were a thoroughly dysfunctionally lot that couldn't stand each other, or that we are totally secure in our love for each other to the extent that there's no worry about somebody getting their feelings hurt. (I used to think I was pretty good at that back and forth but my sons have so far outpaced me that sometimes I just sit and watch...and laugh.)
Wouldn't life be a lot easier if we could just all stop taking ourselves so seriously? Overthinking conversation?
On USAToday.com: "Stocking Stuffers for Under $100."
Anybody else see something wrong with this?
I got the clutch linkage all hooked up except for a tab to which one end of the hook return spring will attach. I'll make that tomorrow out of some .004" aluminum I have left over from the teardrop build.
Tonight I'll order the next batch of parts including the dash switches, knobs, and other bits & pieces. Also a few misc. items like oil lines, seals, and special fasteners.
I could be ready to paint fenders early next year.
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