Post-Exposure Prophylactics

I work for a company that develops certification courses. I'm currently working on blood borne pathogens. With possible HIV exposure comes post-exposure prophylactics. Basically, a cocktail of drugs to help prevent you from contracting the virus. They're about 80% effective according to my research. Even still, don't be stupid. Use protection. Or as my grandmother (may she rest in peace, and not come smite me for putting this on the internet) would call them "prophylactics." Not condoms, or diaphragm. But prophylactics.

In fact, she used to ride the bus to work, back in the day. And once she went to open her purse for change only to find that her darling husband (my grandfather...may he rest in peace and not smite me for putting this in the blogosphere) had filled her purse with....*whispers*.....prophylactics. Blown up....*whispers*....prophylactics. They proceeded to spill out of her purse, her face turning red in direct proportion to the amount of .... whispers*....prophylactics...that came out of the purse.

You see, she would tell this story to us, but she'd never be able to say condoms. Nor would she be able to say prophylactics with a normal timbre. She was not raised to. Ladies didn't talk about such things. Well Grandma, now the whole world will know your secret.

I love you!


P.S. I had to go in and fix this 3 times. I should learn to edit before posting. *sighs*

Shout Outs

I just set up my page with analytics. WHEE!!

Shout outs go to my sister's page and my friend Redoubt's page. They have sent me visitors since I started tracking. Even if it was just them checking, I still appreciate them for driving my numbers....which are low. Oh so sadly low....

Anyway! Just thought I'd thank them for their efforts. :) Even if their efforts are passive and not active.

She-pherd

Remember that game I was telling you about yesterday? She-pherd is our name for it now. Inspired by my friend's undergrad student that thought shepherd was 2 morphemes. She might have been right if she'd divided it as shep-herd. (Let me emphasize that it is MIGHT!*) And then talked about how shep is most likely a reduced form of sheep and herd denotes that it is the person herding the sheep not the sheep themselves. But she didn't.

So today's misinterpretation is "defrocking" or the act of rocking out to Def Leppard.

And there you have it.


*cursory searches on dictionary.com show that is where they would mark morpheme boundaries, but alas....I am at work and can't check the source of all word knowledge: the Oxford English Dictionary.

Sometimes When I'm Bored

I play "where did this word come from" games. Points are awarded for the most original origin. No points for the real etymology. Today's word: 'misled'

This word is made of 2 morphemes:

mi- and sled

As you can see it has the root word "sled" in it.

This comes from a misinterpretation of "me sled" in Middle English. People often will lax their vowels making "me sled" sound like "mi sled." People will often run words together for ease of articulation. Leading to the written form becoming "misled" instead of the original "me sled"

So now you know. "misled" is a variant of "my sled."

But, you might ask. What about the meaning of "to lead astray"? Think about it. If someone is on YOUR sled, and you wanted it back so you start pulling on it. It's easy to lead them down a path other than the one they wanted. All the while yelling, "mi sled! mi sled!" Consequently, we've now adopted it to mean "lead astray" and inserted the newer form "my sled" as the standard for possession.

And that is how it works.

H1N1 Rap - Protecting people one song at a time

This video totally made my day.

I am God

Love is a Mix Tape

"[Kurt Cobain] made me think about death and marriage and a lot of things that I didn't want to think about at all. I would have been glad to push this music to the back of my brain, put some furniture in front of it so I couldn't see it, and wait thirty or forty years for it to rot so it wouldn't be there to scare me anymore. The married guy was a lot more disturbing to me than the dead junkie."

In Love is a Mix Tape*, you find out that the author's (Rob Sheffield) wife dies on the first page. He tells you. What he doesn't tell you is that he will take you on the journey of their love. For each other and for music. Music pervades the story. Each memory is tied to a song. He had a tape to wash dishes too. She had a tape to sew to. His story fills my soul and wanders around like an old friend looking for comfort and finding none.

Doesn't make you want to read it, does it? But I would tell you that is a mistake. His words resonate within you shaking you to your core. You feel his pain. You weep when he weeps. You want to sing along to Hall & Oates with him and Renée as they drive around with no particular place to go. The story is as much about their innocence and naïveté. About their coming of age, facing the realities of life head on with an exuberance only a true worshipper of music can.

If you haven't read it. Read it. I've read my copy many times. I pulled it down tonight to reread because I was in the mood for a story that would take me away from my world. And this story never fails.



*The hardcover addition is even in the bargain books now. I paid full price for mine and it was worth it. But I might have to buy a second copy to put away for when this one loses all its pages from over use!

Will Work 4 Books

Andee and I went to the mall tonight for dinner. Wingers. Not a happy thing. She found a hair in her food and she will probably never eat there again. Not a big loss, right?

So after we got done with dinner I did not want to go back outside into the freezing cold. So we started wandering. Walden Books is going out of business and I found a couple GREAT books for my cousin Joseph's Christmas present.

Then we were wandering around afterward and we happened upon a used bookstore. Eborn Books. I was chatting with the owner and jokingly asked if they needed someone part-time/weekends help. He said yeah, and that they'd pay me in books. I said, "DONE!!" Andee is in on it too. We'll be going back right after Christmas to take in resumes and hash out the details.

I LOVE MY NEW PART-TIME JOB!!

Sheena is a Punk Rocker?

Or overused?

Don't get me wrong. I love The Ramones. I honestly do. They are to punk (alternative) rock what The Beatles are to mainstream rock. However, I have about 6 copies of Sheena is a Punk Rocker thanks to every Indie film soundtrack I purchase.

There are so many other songs that could be used.

Leave Sheena alone. Please. And for the love, I Wanna Be Sedated, leave that one alone too. I have about 4 copies of that for similar reasons. Branch out. They have other music you know. And I'm not referring to Blitzkrieg Bop either. Let's hear some of their other music.

Thanks.

Interesting Find Today

This gave me pause today.

Thanks Jon!

(And, yes...it is slightly ironic that I blogged it...)