Out here not all that far from Peoria, I'm with you, the word affair used to mean a significant relationship of some duration. Now I suspect men of certain reputations call their one night stands 'affairs', cause it enhances their self image. My single friends used to say that to get to 'go out' one was expected to 'put out', so some men are not interested in any kind of 'getting to know you' stage. If it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, its a duck. And if a one night stand looks like one - it is one, no matter what they call it.

One piece of wisdom I would like to add for those who are building a house, completely gutting a first floor, or adding an addition... Design the entire area together as one piece. Don't wait too long to plan the Kitchen...including the layout. (Door styles, etc. can wait 'til later, layout cannot.) You really should be planning the entire first floor (or addition) at once along with the Kitchen layout so you won't end up w/a Kitchen area that's difficult to make work properly. I've seen so many people who are building, etc. who just draw in a quick area and say, "that'll be the kitchen...details later." Then, when later comes, it's difficult to fit the kitchen they want in the space they've allocated for it. We've seen many posts where people say...our kitchen will be here w/these dimensions...but what I want won't fit, so how do I make it work??? (Or they go into denial and say, "It will be OK with these narrow aisles or dysfunctional layout.") They usually tell us they've either finalized all windows/doors/walls or that they've already installed/built those windows/doors/walls so nothing can be changed...and then want us to come up with some "miracle" layout that will still allow them to have what they want. The placement of those windows/doors/walls is important to all rooms, but especially the Kitchen, so do it all together. People forget that in many respects, the Kitchen is the most important room in the house. So don't treat it like it's the least important by putting it off until later & "making do" with what you're stuck with! Plan it up-front! (If we ever build again, the Kitchen layout will be one of the first things planned...not the last!)

Quite a few of the British also use that glottal stop in a word where Canadians would vocalize an "r": e.g. "fo-y" instead of "forty" (I guess that involves both the disavowed "R" and "T")! (Spell check doesn't like my pronunciation, either). ole joyful

I was about 12 years old, and was taking a test in school, when the principle came to the door and said there was an incident I was involved in, and needed to come to the office. I had no idea what he was talking about. The teacher said as soon as I finished the test, he would send me. My mind went blank and I couldn't concentrate. I am sure I failed the test. I went to the office and when I got there, a little neighbor girl of ours, age about 6, was there and her older brother. (Small school...all grades in one building). The story was that when I was walking to gym class the day before, and walked through the recess yard where younger children were playing, I picked up this little girl's dress and looked at her panties and called her a "debbil". I didn't even know what a debbil was...I thought it was a bad word that I didn't know the meaning of. Later, I figured out she meant that I had called her a "devil". I don't know why that little girl said that. The idea that I would lift up her skirt to see her panties was mind boggling. But, she had said that...and told her parents, who called the school and, hence, I was in the princple's office being questioned about it. I was crying and I couldn't remember even seeing her the day before. Supposedly other kids saw it, so they were called in, and no one saw it. (Of course, because it didn't happen.) After about an hour, the principle told her it wasn't nice to lie and she had to appologize to me. She said, "I'm sorry Marilyn. I told a lie." I was so distraught and sick, I went to the bathroom and cried my eyes out. But, worse than that incidence...in '95, my husband fired a deckhand. To make a long story short, to get back at him, the deckhand got his girlfriend to say that her children had been out to our place, here on the bayou....we didn't live here at the time, and my husband had molested them. They filed charges...filled out a report several pages long that said they were out here every weekend for 6 weeks, swimming nude in the bayou and riding horses. No one rides my horses...not even me. They aren't broken. Even tho our place is remote...there is a lot of boat traffic on the bayou in the summer. This is MY place...at the time, my husband hardly ever came out here because he was working, but I was here every day. We didn't even know the woman or the kids. Later they tried to recant, but the charges couldn't be dropped. It took 15 months and cost us $60,000. Now, if that won't give you a sorry outlook on the human race, nothing will.