One of my favorite Golden Books ( I only owned a few) was The Rainy Day which became my guide for things to play . I would recreate all their ideas and especially loved playing librarian ! I still have my Golden Books from my childhood ....not sure why or how they have made it through all these years.

I recall playing at various schemes as a child. I lived in a neighborhood of boys so we played cowboys and cowgirls. I was proud of my Dale Evans outfit. With girls, I remember playing "house" amidst tree roots in mossy areas. We used acorns for cups and concocted various "dishes" out of leaves and berries.

Frieda, glad to hear you are familiar with the Gullah and Geechee culture. A lot of study is going on here in Charleston and environs regarding their early folk ways, what they ate, wore, and the baskets they wove, which are works of art, in some cases.

Woodnymph....This was a favorite book when my children were little, Mud Pies And Other Recipes by Marjorie Winslow

We played house similarly to Woodnymph. A nearby wooded area had gorgeous moss. We also played camping underneath the sheets hung out to dry on the clothesline. We also made mud pies, and one young male cousin tried to eat one once. My brothers were big cowboy fans. We had a fat old pony that they used to ride bareback and kick his shanks with their little bare feet to try to make him run. The poor old pony would only plod.

Grr, just came across two misuses today: one person who used “incredulous” when she meant “incredible”, and a whole thread of people who referred to “poisonous” snakes which included a contribution from one poster who acknowledged that “venomous” was indeed correct, but a word only used by “show offs” because no one else understood ”venomous” and everyone else says “poisonous” anyway.

I shake my head...

A local tv reporter said that the fires were " litten" . I must assume she wanted to say " the fires were lit" and also assume that she has a college degree.

Some reporters have trouble with numbers! Twenty loses the 't' when it becomes twenny-one. Although with temperatures recently around the teens Celsius, I wouldn't mind hearing this mispronunciation, just for once this week!

I cringe when I hear " thur" ( they're, their, there) from supposedly professional broadcasters. I have a friend from upstate who uses the expression " go'd the....." instead of " go to the...." , not meaning a past tense of the go but simply a strange blend : " I've got to go'd the library".

I plead guilty to having said "poisonous" when describing serpents. I'm not quite sure why that would be incorrect....

I disagree........I would use poisonous to describe an dangerous snake and I find both words interchangeable, though poisonous gets right to the point.

Poisonous

• adj.

  Containing or being a poison.

• adj.

  Capable of harming or killing by poison.

Venomous

adjective

(of an animal) having a gland or glands for secreting venom; able to inflict a poisoned bite,sting, or wound:a venomous snake.

full of or containing venom; poisonous:a venomous wound; a venomous potion.

spiteful; malignant:a

For something to poison you, you have to consume it. So, while a snake may contain poison in its venom glands, few people go around eating the glands.

I was interested to see that an episode of "Peppa Pig" wasn't shown in Australia because it was about getting friendly with a spider. I can just imagine little Bruce coming in to show his mother "this lovely redback!" our Black Widow.

My husband found it hard to believe that spiders weren't venomous in the UK and rang an authority to check. They reassured him and said that they get a lot of enquiries about that from incredulous Australians!

Three days ago, while inside, I noticed a bug bite on my elbow. Within a short time it was a swollen red, hot ,blistered three-inch lump with a big bull's eye around it ! Of course I immediately went to a walk-in clinic and was told " It is not a tick bite " ( which I had two months ago! ) " You have been bitten by some venomous insect ." There was that word ;0) I have never had any bite create such a reaction and it was pretty concerning .

After 30 years of living in Australia without too much trouble from all the dangerous creatures there, I got a bite on my thigh while waiting for a bus in the UK, which blew up massively and landed me in Hospital, sent as an emergency case by my visiting doctor!

I never found out what had bitten me but it must have been through the thick cloth of my pants.

4 months later I can tell the rest of the story......it was a deer tick bite, I did get Lyme disease, though an early case caught immediately and was treated with the three weeks of antibiotic. A visit to an Infectious Disease specialist taught me more than I ever wanted to know about this epidemic disease.

Bon, I'm glad you got treatment quickly! I've heard Lyme disease can be really awful.

Donna

The most horrid cases are those that go undiagnosed for years. The results are dreadful. Even so, a simple case of Lyme as mine was can echo symptoms for up to 6 months.

It is my understanding that when a patient complains to their primary care physician of vague aches, pains or disturbances one of the routine tests done now is the Lyme panel. Thank goodness.

My medical massage therapist told me years ago of one of her clients who had Lyme and it was not known....a 14 year old who had now lost her ability to read and write and had difficulty walking. She was slowly attempting recovery but had to drop out of school.

It is nothing to take lightly.

My husband got it when he went to spend a weekend helping his oldest brother, who had cancer, do the fall clean-up of his big, wooded yard. After he had been back home a few days, he got what he thought was bronchitis (which he was prone to) and went to the doctor. Dr. said he had too much infection for bronchitis, did the testing, and gave him antibiotics that got rid of it. It was the only time we were ever thankful for his proclivity to get bronchitis!

I have read that the medical profession are adamant that Lyme's disease doesn't exist in Australia!

Even people showing the symptoms don't have it so they can't get treatment for it. Apparently they just have something similar but NO Lyme's Disease here!

We don't have the right kind of disease carrying ticks. Anyone with the disease must have got it overseas.

Getting back to misuse of words, I've been hearing a number of reporters and interviewees lately saying "That begs the question" when they really mean "That raises the question". It almost makes steam come out of my ears! (Notice I didn't say, "It literally makes steam" ;-D )

Colleen.....that is very common here as well. Another expression that I hear a lot is " .....speaking to your point "

On NPR when they are reporting about one of their sponsors they say, "I should say that So-and-So is a sponsor." That just sounds wrong to me - you should say it, but you are saying it?

There is also still a whole lot of "reaching out" going on. Ugh.

Donna

Another expression that seems to be in constant use is " push back ".

I despise "reaching out."

I despise “reaching out” also, Carolyn. How do you feel about “touching base”? Also ugh.

In baseball it's imperative :0)

Colleen, that's is a very common expression here. Odd application, isn't it.

I hate it when politicians and those who attend endless meetings, say 'We will/let us have a conversation about so-and-so' when they mean a 'discussion'.

And 'going forward' when they mean something will be happening in the future.

Donna the 'reaching out' that happens over here, especially during election time is amazingly elastic . . .

I have, of course, heard "touching base," but that doesn't bother me. It doesn't seem to be so ubiquitous. I have probably told you all that the man I talked with at the funeral home when my husband died must have said "reach out" 10 or 15 times. I was ready to scream and still wish I had given him a little lecture about it.

'Reach out' really bugs me. It was the "go-to" (ugh) phrase at my work place. During a meeting when assignments were being handed out, I was asked to 'reach out' to someone. I had had it. All I could picture was wrapping this person in my arms and telling them how much I missed them. I asked, can't I just contact them instead? That didn't go over as well as I'd hoped.

Just recently on the TV news I heard a reporter talking about the ying and yang....

Ack! It seems from reading the school newsletter yesterday that "incursion" being used as the opposite of "excursion" has become embedded in our education department. Very disappointing.

Colleen maybe the staff of your children's school are expecting a sudden attack from the enemy therefore everyone must stay in the building to defend it . . .

It's the school where I work, Vee :-D But 25 years ago when DD was at school, she brought a permission slip home for me to sign, allowing her to attend an incursion. I called the Principal and said, "I'm not objecting just yet, but before I decide I'd like to know where you're invading."

Apparently this is what they now call it when some visiting group (performers, lecturers, whatever) come to the students instead of the students travelling to see them. <insert eye roll>

OMG, the sign at the McDonald’s in our town says, “Donut sticks is back”. Ugh.

Donna, LOL !! Okaaaayyy then.

While reading the newspaper this morning, I found an article by the county historian and screeched to a halt upon seeing this :

" Perhaps allowing to the march of progress, or the need for expansion of business, the American House was dealt a death knoll in early 1924." ( sic)

What is more disturbing than the fact that there is no copy editor is the glaring fact that this man has no idea how to write or what he has written.

Maybe progress was marching over the death knoll. Or allowing someone else to. :)

egads......and I'm not sure about the phrase " ...allowing to the march of progress...."

Well, at least it has a nice cadence to it.

Sports commentator yammering about college football: “He has rose to the occasion.”

I don't think any of them are bringing macaroni salad to the Mensa picnic !

I expect them to be bloviating bores and they rarely disappoint .

Haha, Bon! Bloviating is a word I often use to describe the current President.

Donna

Yoyo - Love your "macaroni salad to the Mensa picnic" phrase!!! I'm going to try to find an opportunity to slip that into a conversation before the week is done. With any luck it will be at my family's Thanksgiving table.

Yoyo, macaroni salad? I remember Betty MacDonald having something to say about that particular delicacy . . . and not in a polite way! What does it consist of please?

Vee......you can substitute potato or fruit salad if you wish. I thought that macaroni /Mensa had a certain rhythm to it !

Okay....Macaroni salad, like potato salad, has many slight variations depending on the cook. Although I do not make it and rarely eat it I do recall that my aunt's involved elbow macaroni and chopped celery and onions which were "dressed" or mixed with mayonnaise and perhaps a tad of mustard .....of course salt and pepper to taste. Chill and serve.

Kathy.....lol, that phrase is probably the polite northern equivalent of the southern "Bless her/his heart ! "

Donna, ditto, re your choice word!

Vee, in summer one can make cold macaroni salad as a picnic item. There are many, many versions, according to what one likes to add. Among items that can be added: chopped green onions, chopped tomatoes, black olives, cold chicken, plain yoghurt, chopped green peppers, to name just a few. I forgot: fresh herbs, such as basil.

I am half-way through Penny's "A Better Man." She seldom disappoints!

What is the subject matter of "The Dutch House"? It sounds intriguing.

Yoyo and I cross posted. I forgot to add one of my favorite versions of chilled macaroni salad is made with chilled fresh shrimp. It was a staple in my family in summer.

The Dutch House is about a man who bought a mansion formerly belonging to a Dutch family when they died/went bankrupt, leaving all their possessions intact. His wife hated it. They had two children, a girl a few years older than a son, and the narrator is the son. They lost the house to a wicked stepmother, but the children were always very close. Set near Philadelphia and covers some 40-50 years. I think it is one of those books people either like or dislike very much. I really liked it.

Not a misuse of words, but of punctuation. I have been seeing statements ended with a question mark a LOT lately. It's driving me nuts! Typically it's something like, "My bedroom is boring, I think I need to paint?"

Has anyone else noticed this?

Donna

I a enjoying this thread. The one that gets me is when notoriety (or notorious) is used interchangeably with fame.

I was sorry to hear (in more ways than the obvious) that, according to the reporter at the scene, that large parts of South Australia had been "decimated" by a bushfire. I was trying to imagine how a bushfire could make a patchwork of destruction.

I find that when reporters, locally or nationally, try to speak off script they try to use impressive words that are frequently incorrect. And I suspect that few listeners or producers even realize the errors.