Friday, June 3, 2016

7 Quick Takes about Useless Acronyms, Unconventional Television Medleys I'd Like to See, and the Importance of a Well-Placed Comma

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

1


My 10-year-old reports that one of her classmates answers questions by saying "IDK" in real life, face-to-face conversations.

Okay, I get that it's shorter to text IDK instead of the old-school "I don't know," but it makes zero sense when you're speaking out loud because it's THE SAME NUMBER OF SYLLABLES. If saying "IDK" becomes a thing, I'm moving to Mars.

On the plus side, at least it's not "BTW," which would actually be 40% longer than just saying "by the way." (Thankfully no one is doing this, at least not to my knowledge.)

2


At the dinner table one night we were talking about having a family movie night in the near future. I mentioned that the older kids would like Pirates of the Caribbean, but then my daughter interrupted and said, "You and Dad used to watch Downton Abbey after we went to bed, what's that about?"

"Well, you'd probably think it's boring, but it was about a very rich family in the 1920's and 30's with a bunch of servants, and-"

"Oh!" My son yelled, "And they're rich because they're pirates and they steal everything!"

Apparently it wasn't clear that I wasn't still talking about Pirates of the Caribbean.

Which got me to thinking: I'd actually be pretty interested to see a show that was a mashup of those two! Can't you envision the chemistry between Lady Mary and Jack Sparrow if the right circumstances brought them together at the right time?

3


We went to the beach for the first time this year on Saturday, and when I fished out my sunglasses it appeared that one of my children had "fixed" them for me.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
UV protection was not that great, but I certainly could see well.

Still looking for the lenses. I'll probably find them in their dollhouse two months from now.

4


At church I usually teach a class of 9- and 10-year-olds, but last weekend I got to attend our adult Sunday School class. A really insightful point was made by the man teaching the class that day.

As a professor, this guy spends a lot of time correcting his students' writing. He's seen how without the right punctuation, the entire meaning of a sentence gets changed. At best, the sentence just doesn't do what it was meant to do.

Then he made the comparison that our lives are like run-on sentences, and in order for them to become purposeful, they need to be punctuated by regular Sabbath day observance.

To Mormons, Sunday is the day we observe the Sabbath by going to church and doing things that will help us spiritually recharge and recalibrate. As opposed to the rest of the week when we're running around like chickens with our heads cut off crossing items off of to-do lists. So I guess that would make Sundays kind of like commas or semicolons.

As a quasi-grammar nerd, I totally got this analogy. And frankly, I think I need more commas in my life.

5


My daughter asked for help with her homework, and helping with homework is always tricky. Especially math homework. Even if you know the right answer (and to be honest, now that she's in 4th grade I don't even know that half the time) you have to be able to arrive at it using the same process they're teaching in class.

I never learned whatever division method they're teaching her, so I sighed and sat down to Google it just as an angelic voice from the other room called, "I can help."

You guys, I forgot that she has an older sister. One who'd been through all this two years before and could actually understand and explain the stuff.

So as they completed the worksheet together, I just putzed around on Twitter for 15 minutes and felt generally obsolete. I think this is what retirement feels like.

6


My son missed the bus earlier this week when my alarm didn't go off (my guess is that whoever fixed my sunglasses also decided to repair my alarm clock.)

But even though it wasn't his fault, he was stellar at helping his 3 younger siblings get out the door and buckled up in the car in a hurry.

As we pulled up to the school drop-off line I turned to him in the backseat and thanked him for his help, saying "If it wasn't for you, we never would've gotten to school on time!"

He shrugged before hopping out of the car and replied, "Well, if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have to be here in the first place. But you're welcome."

Also, if you want to know how we're holding it together for the last 2 weeks of school (yes, I said two weeks,) these pictures should tell you everything you need to know.

7


It's the end of Phillip's first week at his new job and so far everything is going well. He likes it there, his commute is infinitely better, and they even sent this to our house as a welcome gift:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}


At first I was all "Well, that's nice." and then I was all "Meh, fruit." and then I was all "Wait! There's a bag of chocolate truffles in the back!"

It's like they know me exactly.

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21 comments:

Rachel said...

Hmmm...Lady Mary and Captain Jack? Sorry, not sure I can see that--although he would be completely untroubled by her general pessimism and snottiness so...maybe. Can you tell I'm not much of a Lady Mary fan? Bigger kids teaching littler kids is a great strategy, one that was employed often in the homeschool I grew up in.

Jenny Evans said...

I just think that she's fascinated by people she can't control, so I think Captain Jack would drive her crazy and she would end up falling in love with him despite herself. Plus, don't opposites attract? I'm thinking it would be kind of like Grease!

Leslie said...

Kids these days say B-T-Dubs.

Crystal said...

I regret to inform you that, yes, BTW is spoken out loud. However, it is pronounced BT Dub so as not to increase the number of syllables. And this is out of the mouth of a girl who does not know if she can go on texting a boy because his grammar is bad. My 7-year-old has picked up all sorts of these things and it is actually good for a laugh pretty often. Most of it actually comes from TV though, not her older sisters. Sometimes I think you have a good thing going with no TV, but times like now, when I am sitting alone in a quiet office while the kids zone out in front of it, I wonder how you go on living!

Jenny Evans said...

Well, they are both playing a game on the iPad as I'm typing this, so...

Jenny Evans said...

Noo! It's real! At least it doesn't increase the syllable count. That's something, right?

Ari Mack said...

Oooh - I love the grammar and sabbath analogy! (#4)

Christine said...

I'd totally watch a mashup of Downton Abbey and Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, I think IDK may become the new YOLO. Kill me now.

The Not So Perfect Catholic said...

Kids...they don't miss a thing, do they?
How sweet of your husband's office to send the chocolate,errr, I mean...fruit! :)

Jenny said...

One more reason having a lot of kids is awesome. They can help each other out with homework. This will hopefully be the case for me too since I can't do math.

Jenny Evans (sister, not author) said...

I'm very sad to report that Megs and I frequently say "BTdubs", but more because we think it's fun to say and not because it's "easier" or "shorter".
LOVED the analogy of #4, really needed to hear that.
I still haven't heard back from Phillip on what exactly his job now entails, poke him for me would ya? I'm glad he's enjoyed his first week though!

Budget Splurge Beauty said...

haha came to say this :P

Budget Splurge Beauty said...

As stated by others, BTdubs is a thing. and agreed ^ that people say it because it's fun to say, not to shorten the saying.
Also, I heard it for the first time when I was in high school roughly 10 years ago so this isn't a new phenomenon haha

Queen Mom Jen said...

Yeah I'm right there with you, the truffles saved the fruit gift for sure!I want to see that movie mash up too. Who can we talk to about producing that?

Katy said...

LOL to pretty much all. I wish someone would send me a basket for working. I'd even take a fruit basket as a token "Hey, you're an adult and you commute and work for us so enjoy this banana!" Your beach sunglasses are spectacular BTW. See what I did there? ;)

The Lady Okie said...

So true about IDK! That's funny.

Michelle said...

I can't stop thinking about Jack Sparrow and Lady Mary now! They both refuse to play by someone else's rules. I think you're on to something here...

Jenny Evans said...

I will let you know. Hopefully I'll able to understand what he's doing now that he's engineering building materials instead of lasers. Probably not, though.

Jenny Evans said...

Your high school sounds really progressive. I'm just now learning this is even a thing.

Jenny Evans said...

I'm really thinking that the model of a spin-off series that introduces a character from one show/movie into another could be great to watch! Or it could be horrible. I haven't decided yet.

Jenny Evans said...

It is a little odd, now that you put it that way...